


Pas de Deux

by ashtin



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Dance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, M/M, My own original work, Pas de Deux (VIXX) REBOOT, but with new characters, dance academy au, think Raise Your Voice meets Dance Academy meets FAME, this is not fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-11-15 11:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18072743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtin/pseuds/ashtin
Summary: Pas de Deux- A dance for two,usuallya woman and a man. In its traditional form, it begins with an entree and adagio, followed by solo variations for each dancer, and a coda.





	1. Audition

“Next group!”

Hyunjin choked on the deep breath that was supposed to help him calm down. His shoulders tensed as he watched the last remaining group before his file one after the other into the designated dance studio where the auditions were to take place. He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt remotely as nervous as he did in that moment.

“Relax, Jinnie.” Felix’s voice was soft and reassuring in Hyunjin’s ear as the other’s hands began to work at his shoulders, massaging them gently in an attempt to help Hyunjin calm down.  Felix had graciously offered to attend Hyunjin’s audition as a form of moral support, claiming that if it weren’t for him Hyunjin would probably psych himself out and have a mental breakdown before ever having set foot into the studio.

“Easy for you to say when you’ve already been accepted in!” Hyunjin snapped, dramatically running a hand through his ash-blond hair.

Felix had auditioned for the same academy earlier during the spring semester and received his acceptance letter within a couple of weeks. The slightly younger male had always been one for doing things ahead of time and going above and beyond to make sure he was well prepared for anything that could possibly happen… basically the complete opposite of Hyunjin.

Felix and Hyunjin had been friends for as long as Hyunjin could remember; they met in a small, run-down dance school when Hyunjin was around the age of seven or eight. Hyunjin’s parents had wanted him to be more active and gave him the option to start taking dance lessons when he’d outright refused any outdoor sports they could come up with.  Up until then he’d shown no real interest or talent in anything in particular, but Hyunjin didn’t see the harm in learning the new skill.

It wasn’t as common for boys to take up dancing lessons back then, so it was no surprise to him that there were only two male students, including himself.  The two of them grew close over the course of their first year enrolled in the school and became inseparable once their second year began. The boys stuck together once middle school began and were lucky enough to get into the same high school when the time came.  In their final year of high school, Felix and Hyunjin decided that they would continue with dance and apply to audition for the same Dance Academy, which just so happened to be their dream school.

So, there they were, three weeks before the new semester on the last available audition date, in the last group audition before individuals start, and it was taking all Hyunjin had in him to not turn around and leave the campus. Though, as tempting as it felt to do so in the moment, Hyunjin knew that he would most definitely regret it in the long run. The academy was their dream school, and he’d be damned if he threw it all away after coming so far.

\---

The group inside the studio was beginning to finish up when three guys rounded the corner, all of them laughing loudly at something unknown to Hyunjin.  The dancer looked toward the sign that was hung on the wall that read:  **“Auditions in progress, please keep this hallway quiet.”**  He sighed, annoyed that these boys were being so disrespectful to possible future students of the academy.

It only took one glance for Hyunjin to figure out that the unknown boys were students of the academy; second or third year students from the look of them. They were too absorbed in their noisy conversation as they made their way down the hall, and it wasn’t until a severely annoyed Hyunjin cleared his throat just as loud as they were being that they finally looked up.  All three of the strangers’ expressions screamed confusion as they glanced over the last auditioning group.

“Ah, shit.” The tallest of the three mumbled under his breath before speaking to the group, “I forgot that auditions were today.  Are you guys the last group?” He questioned, not addressing anyone in particular as he watched the current audition group through the window.

Hyunjin waited one, two seconds before he realized that no one else was going to speak up, “Yes, but I think the individual evaluations are supposed to start shortly after us.”

Hyunjin could feel the gaze of the two other students land on him as he spoke, but his attention remained on the taller one who still had his face pressed up against the window and looking into the studio.  He seemed extremely focused on the group in their audition, and Hyunjin wondered if the shorter boy -well, he was the tallest among the three, but still a head shorter than Hyunjin, himself- had even heard a single word he’d said.

“I see.” He murmured, nodding slowly before finally turning his attention over to Hyunjin.

The younger’s breath caught and time seemed to slow down as the two made eye contact for the first time.

Hyunjin’s mind went blank for a what felt like several long moments before it became filled with the stranger’s face as Hyunjin took in every little feature of his face.  What stood out most was his shiny silver hair, but it looked good, and it definitely complimented the shape of his face with how it was tastefully parted down the middle. Pretty-pink, catlike lips twisted into a curious pout, naturally blushed cheeks that sat high, and beautifully intense eyes that had Hyunjin taking a hesitant step back under their stare.

Hyunjin backed straight into Felix and he instantly felt fingertips digging into his shoulder in response.  The student broke their eye contact for a second at the sudden movement and noticed Felix, who had been practically hidden behind Hyunjin the entire time.  He raised an eyebrow at Felix’s protective stance, the other having mistaken Hyunjin’s response and thinking that something was wrong, but it was only a brief moment before the stranger looked back to Hyunjin with his lips set into an amused smirk.

“Well then,” He addressed Hyunjin, only. “My friends and I will find another studio to practice in.”

“Good luck, fishies.” He addressed the whole group then, but he kept his gaze even with Hyunjin’s even as he began to back away. His smirk spread into a wide smile and he winked once before turning back to catch up with his friends just as the door to the studio opened and the previous group began to exit.

“Next group!”

Hyunjin moved aside so that the rest of his group could go in while he stayed back to talk to Felix for one last second, but his best friend began to speak before Hyunjin even had the chance to open his mouth.

“I’ll be right out here watching you through the window. You’ll be great, I just know it,” Felix said, trailing a hand down Hyunjin’s arm and stopping once he reached his hand to link their pinkies together. “Go on.” He nodded at the door and dropped his hand away from Hyunjin’s to lightly shove him toward the studio.


	2. New Term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is he cute?” Minho asked, wiggling his eyebrows across the table while looking back and forth between the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so excited to finally kick off this au! I hope you guys enjoy~!

**-THREE WEEKS LATER-**

 

“Hello? Earth to Minho… Did you even hear what I just said?”

“Huh, what? Sorry, no. I am listening now, though!” Minho chirped up as he reluctantly tore his gaze away from a tall foreign student that was sat across the dining hall from where Minho and his two best friends were currently sitting. The foreign boy had gorgeous blond hair that was fixed into a perfect comma style and wide blue eyes that would have Minho melting in place if the two were to ever make eye contact. It really was a shame that he had sworn off foreign men… especially after the last one.

“I said I think I found you a new dancing partner. He- “

“Wait, why?!” Minho cut his friend off, “I never said I wanted a new partner! Don’t you think we dance well together, Woojinnie? I’ve never had a partner as good as you in my entire life! Was it something I did? Is it because we’re both guys? I thought the three of us were okay with that. What d- “

“Would you please shut up.” His friend murmured with a flick to Minho’s forehead. Next to him, Chan harrumphed at Minho’s words. The three of them often took turns in a rotation of pairs according to dance style and music genre for whatever piece they were to work on. Minho at least had the decency to send Chan an apologetic glance for his poor choice of words before he looked away from both of them.

Worry began to eat at Minho’s gut and his mind started racing with all of the possible reasons as to why either of his best friends wouldn’t want to be his dance partner anymore. Sure, Minho was constantly annoying them and always barging in and interrupting the one-on-one private lessons they taught to underclassmen, but Woojin had never complained about any of it! Chan… Chan did complain, but it was never in a serious way that would convey he actually found Minho’s intrusions annoying or that he wanted him to stop. And maybe Woojin was not the most vocal person, but he and Minho were close enough that he would definitely have let him know if Minho ever seriously bothered him.

“You know good and well that we would never have agreed to dance with you in the first place if we had not been okay with it, dummy. And of course, I think you and I dance well together -maybe even better than most of our coed pairs-, but this guy that I found... he’s pretty amazing. I was helping run the group auditions and I couldn’t take my eyes off him the entire time.” Woojin’s eyes were lit up the way they usually were when he had exciting news or when he felt accomplished about something, while Chan smiled and nodded along with the other with much enthusiasm, and Minho would be lying if he said he wasn’t the least bit curious about the mystery dancer the two of them claimed to have found.

“You think he’s better for me than the both of you?” Minho asked skeptically, the dancer wasn’t too keen on the thought of having to get used to a new partner. He felt the beginnings of a headache just thinking about the fact that he might have to find a way to match the style of someone else when he matched with Woojin and Chan just fine! Chan had the choreographing brain of genius who had such brilliant ways of matching body movements to music, and even made the music himself from time to time, where Woojin had the charisma and stage presence most dancers would  _ kill  _ for. Minho, being the special cookie he was, possessed the skills of both, which made them a dangerous trio. And maybe Minho liked feeling untouchable in the eyes of the rest of the student body just a tad too much to give into someone entirely new so easily. 

Chan was the one to roll his eyes at Minho other before answering the selfish question.

“Minho, you know that we can hardly keep up with your ballet as is. Besides, I’m going to be busy giving privates and helping out with freshman classes this year. I won’t have the time to help test your choreography or learn countless duets and trios ‘just because.’” Chan gave his friend a pointed look and Minho looked away with his face set into a pitiful pout.

Woojin sighed before trying in a softer tone, “Listen, just from the group audition I can tell he’s eons ahead of his age. I’m curious of his other skills… It’s too bad that I was not able to watch his individual evaluation.”

Minho hummed his response with a small nod to let the other boys know he was listening and thinking at the same time. While it was obvious that Chan and Woojin were better at ballet than than they were giving themselves credit for, Minho found himself thinking that maybe a new, fresh face wouldn’t hurt.

“Is he cute?” Minho asked, wiggling his eyebrows across the table while looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Does that really matter?” Woojin sighed and rolled his eyes for what he was sure was the umpteenth time that day. “Think about it, alright? He’ll be in the first-year advanced ballet class every morning, so you can go sit in to watch or ask the instructor if she needs a demonstrator for the class.” Woojin shrugged as Chan snorted and said, “I’m more than sure he will be able to figure something out… this is  _ Minho  _ we’re talking about.”

“Alright alright…” Minho said, nonchalantly waving his hand through the air between them. “I’ll check him out. But he better be as good as you two are making him out to be, or I swear to G-“

Minho was cut off by a grape being shoved into his mouth.

“At least tell me his name.” He spoke around a mouth full of the fruit and watched patiently as Woojin flipped through the first couple of pages from his notebook. Minho grabbed another grape from Chan’s plate in the meantime and popped it into his mouth, earning another eye roll from him as Woojin ran a finger down the page he had stopped on.

“His name is Hwang Hyunjin, though you can’t really miss him. He was one of the tallest of the freshmen that enrolled this year, even taller than myself.”

Minho raised his eyebrows at the fact; he could already feel himself becoming interested in the new kid.

“He’s amazingly built for only being eighteen, too. Trust me, he will be perfect for you.” Chan further promised.

_ Sounds like it,  _ Minho thought, memories of the boy from the audition group resurfacing. He wondered if the new guy Woojin was talking about could possibly be even taller than him. Had the boy even made it through his auditions? Minho hoped so-

He was brought back to the present with a few snaps in front of his face from Chan.

“Rude.” Minho muttered under his breath, sending a glare toward his friend. The glare was in vain, though, as Chan was looking out through the crowd in the dining hall, searching for someone.

“You know, if you had actually attended the incoming first-years’ orientation this morning, like upperclassmen were supposed to, you would have gotten to see him.” Chan chastised just as Woojin’s eyes widened in recognition, “Wait, he’s right there!”

Minho’s head snapped up to look in the direction Woojin was pointing at just as two boys entered through the dining hall entrance. His eyes instantly landed on the two’s connected pinky fingers before he shifted his gaze to look at their faces.

Minho’s breath caught for the second time within the past month when his eyes settled on the taller of the two boys.

“Him?!”

**-EARLIER-**

Hyunjin sat up abruptly at the feeling of Felix’s thumb jabbing into his side and stifled a yelp by covering his mouth with a hand.

“What?!” He hissed at his friend. He felt agitated when he realized that Felix had just stirred him from what would have been a fantastic nap, and Hyunjin was fully prepared to get payback with a swat to Felix’s temple before he remembered exactly where they were. The same urge to hit Felix was now pointed back at himself for nearly falling asleep during the orientation lecture. Hyunjin had no idea what the speaker had been going on about up to that point, but he hoped it was nothing of any major importance to him. He’d sat through enough lectures in his life to know that he was definitely not made for them and Hyunjin thanked his younger self for sticking with dance. He didn’t know how he would survive going to a regular lecture-based university like most of his friends from home had, but thankfully, he wouldn’t have to find out.

Hyunjin found himself dozing back off when the dean stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat.

“We’re grateful to have auditioned and enrolled so many new faces this year!” He began what Hyunjin hoped to be the start of the closing speech. He had meant to follow along the program sheet given to him before entering the auditorium, but Felix had taken to using it to fan himself with sometime before he’d dozed off the first time.

“In closing, I would like to call upon the honorary students who have received special scholarships; so please stand and be recognized when I name your scholarship category.”

_ Shit. _

Hyunjin shrunk down in his seat at the same time Felix let out a huff of laughter. Hyunjin made a mental note to hide Felix’s favorite jazz shoes when they were back in the dorm later.

The academy only offered four scholarships; the first one announced was for the smallest amount of money which was when the most incoming first year students stood up. The number of recipients per scholarship lessened considerably with each announcement and Hyunjin kicked at Felix’s ankles, clapping slowly as his best friend stood up to be recognized with the three other students who received the third scholarship. Felix fell back in his seat with an exaggerated sigh and glanced at Hyunjin with a huge smirk, teasing him about the announcement that was yet to be made. He only looked away when the dean began the introduction of the final scholarship.

“And lastly, the most anticipated scholarship, funded by Hwang Se-Jun himself, it includes full tuition, living expenses, meals, books and dance equipment. This scholarship has been granted to Seoul’s Hwang Hyunjin for showing a perfect academic record, displaying excellence in the group auditions and exceeding all expectations in the individual evaluations. Please stand and be recognized, Hyunjin.” The applause then was nothing like the previous times. It was mostly silent, no whoops and hollers like before, Hyunjin noticed as he sighed through his hands that were covering his face.

He dropped his hands away from his face and peeled his body away from the safety of his seat, staring at the wall with a forced smile while he waited for the unenthusiastic clapping to subside. It felt like an eternity, but the awkward applause died down and with it went Hyunjin, collapsing back into his seat and burying his face into Felix’s side in embarrassment. The slightly older boy could still feel his ears burning from the unwanted attention..

“Well done, Jinnie~!” Felix cooed into his ear, intertwining their pinkies before Hyunjin could begin to shove away from him. Hyunjin accepted the gesture out of habit, but he did not hesitate to drag Felix along with him as soon as the lecture ended.

“Shut up. I’m starving, let’s go get lunch.” Hyunjin mumbled as he steered them toward the auditorium’s exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix
> 
> come yell at me uwu


	3. Not Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But he took that anger and passion and turned it into something beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating New Boii and Pas de Deux both within 24hrs had kicked the shit out of me. I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
> 
> ps. There will be a thread of the videos that I used for each dance. I will link the thread at the end of the chapter~ Enjoy! (unedited pls ignore mistakes until i can fix them in the morning)

**FLASHBACK: 3 WEEKS AGO**

 

_“I’ll be right out here watching through the window. You’ll be great, I just know it!” Hyunjin’s best friend’s words rang in his ears as he shuffled into the silent dance studio._

 

_He was thankful toward the shorter boy outside for being a decent distraction from his own mind, but inside the studio there was nothing to stop it from racing with his insecurities and doubts._

 

_Hyunjin had yet to tell Felix about the main reason for his nerves which ate at him even more with the knowledge that if he screwed up his audition in the tiniest bit it would be over for the both of them. He already had enough stress on his plate, thanks to his parents, and it didn’t help that Felix was so dead set on both of them attending the same school. Hyunjin did not even want to think about the possibility that he could be the reason Felix wouldn’t be able to attend after dreaming about the academy for so many years._

 

_He wouldn’t be able to live with himself._

 

_So it was best not to let his mind get the best of him, not when he had so much riding on the damned audition._

 

_In the audition room were four older men and women seated at a long table, and two younger men seated in folding chairs separate from the table. One sat up with his back straight and hands neatly folded in his laps as he observed the boys in front of him, while the other younger man had his legs crossed and looked to be jotting something down in a notebook balanced on his knees. His hand stopped writing for a moment, and that was when Hyunjin noticed him staring back at him for the first time during the audition process._

 

_Hyunjin quickly looked away and forced himself to focus when the man standing at the front of the room began to speak._

 

_“I’m going to do the combination without music twice; the first time will be slow and then I will repeat the steps up to speed. Pay close attention and ghost along if you need to. I will do it twice with the music before letting you all try without my aid. Understand?” The instructor was answered with a chorus of ‘yes’ before he began, as promised, with a count off._

 

_Hyunjin followed the graceful movements closely with his eyes, eventually moving on to mimic them as they happened and did his best to memorize the combination all the while thinking of how he could make it his own style…_

 

_-_

 

_The same four judges from the group auditions were, once again, seated at the long table, but with three new faces that Hyunjin didn’t recognize, and the two younger men were nowhere to be seen._

 

_Hyunjin was the last evaluation of the day and he could tell that the judges were all definitely tired, but he hoped they were awake enough to judge him efficiently. The man that sat in the middle of the table addressed Hyunjin while he was glancing down at what Hyunjin assumed was a copy of his application form._

 

_“Mr. Hwang Hyunjin, eighteen as of earlier this year. And you’ve come quite a  ways from home for this, eh? It says here that you are wanting to major in ballet, but when asked to select your main genre you wrote in ‘all of the above?’” The man questioned with raised eyebrows._

 

_Hyunjin nodded politely, “Yes, the solo I have prepared is ballet, and that is what my major area of study will be, if I am so lucky to be accepted, but I am skilled in all of the dance genres the academy has to offer.”_

 

_Hyunjin willed himself not to smile when he saw the impressed faces of the panel before him._

 

_“Well then, let’s have a look, shall we? You will have ten seconds to listen to the music before starting a thirty second improvisational dance. And since you are one of our special scholarship applicants, we will be repeating the procedure for each genre, then you will be able to perform your solo. Are you ready?”_

 

_“Y-Yes, sir.” Hyunjin cursed himself inwardly for stuttering. It suddenly became a lot more real after being listed out. He worked to calm himself before nerves completely consumed him._

 

_“Breathe, Mr. Hwang. We aren’t as scary as we look.” The man encouraged him with a chuckle. “Give us a show to enjoy, okay? We are on your side, here, believe it or not. It gets a little stuffy having to sit in these chairs all day and we could use some good entertainment.”_

 

_Hyunjin could tell that the man was really trying to help him relax, and for that he was extremely thankful. He stole one last look out the window beside the door frame and took a deep breath as his gaze met Felix’s brilliant smile and a thumbs up._

 

_He could do this. For himself and for the person waiting for him outside the studio._

 

**PRESENT**

 

Hyunjin collapsed on his bed and let out a long, drawn out sigh. He glanced at the various boxes that littered his and Felix’s shared dorm room and took the small amount of free time to memorize every little aspect about the enclosed space. How messy and unorganized his side of the room was in comparison to Mr Neatfreak’s side; Felix’s crazy amount of medals and trophies proudly displayed along the wall, whereas Hyunjin’s own side remained barren.

 

He smiled when his gaze settled on the familiar decorated bulletin board that Felix had brought from home. There were quite a few pictures of Felix with his family members and other dance friends, but they didn’t even come close to the amount of polaroids and cheesy photo booth strips that captured various memories of his and Felix’s friendship throughout the years. The most recent one was only a week or so old: a polaroid of the two of them smiling brightly while they held up their academy acceptance letters.

 

It was an insane feeling to Hyunjin to even be there, in that dorm room, especially when he knew how close he had come to ruining it for both himself and Felix. Hyunjin could easily blame his own parents for being so harshly unfair, but he could definitely see why they didn’t want their only son to become a professional dancer. No, they would much rather him become a lawyer or even a doctor, anything that would give him a higher status than his name alone. The worst part was knowing that his parents were more than willing to shell out however much money needed for his schooling had he chosen to study according to _their_ plans for his future, but the second he mentioned the academy they had no interest in paying a single cent’s worth of tuition.

 

Hyunjin had almost given up right then and there when his parents mentioned they would not be helping him out in any way, but only almost. Dinner had been tense that night, but not silent, at least. His parents mostly talked as if he wasn’t there, only occasionally asking him about his current grades, but not once did they bring up the discussion from earlier on that day. After dinner, Hyunjin had sat at the desk in his room and stared down at the audition application. He’d briefly skimmed through all of the rules and regulations in the thick packet before he’d flipped to a page that went over tuition and housing fees.

 

He’d had a part time job and enough money in savings to cover at least one semester, maybe even two if he chose switched to full time over the summer. A full year would give Felix enough time to make new friends so that Hyunjin wouldn’t be leaving him alone in the end, and that was better than the other boy not going to the academy at all just because of Hyunjin’s personal family problems. But he’d decided to sleep on it. He’d had the intention to talk everything over with Felix before he made any decisions, but that was before he’d read the final page of the applications that was saved for scholarships the academy had to offer. One in particular caught his eye.

 

_‘Applicants for this scholarship will be evaluated thoroughly in each genre of dance through an improvisation period, however he or she will also be required to have a solo performance prepared in the main genre they wish to study at the academy.’_

 

Hyunjin had not bothered to finish reading through the audition process information. Instead, he’d calculated how long he would have until the last possible audition date and then set out for the in-home dance studio his parents had made for him as a birthday gift when he turned ten. The room was located on the floor below the main level of the house, which left a whole floor between it and where the bedrooms resided so that even the loudest music wouldn’t disturb anyone sleeping.

 

His summer ended up consisting of two things: work and dance. Hyunjin had switched from part time to full time at the 24-hour cafe he’d been working at since his second year in high school, and when he wasn’t making overpriced coffees and smoothies, he was choreographing his solo or practicing improv with Felix. In his entire eighteen years of life, Hyunjin had never worked so hard for something as he had in order to get into the academy.

 

He just hoped all of his efforts would be worth it in the long run.

 

Muffled voices from the hallway brought him back to reality just as he heard his and Felix’s door being unlocked and pushed open, but only slightly. Felix’s back was to him as he talked to someone that Hyunjin assumed still stood in the hallway. Curiosity caused him to sit up in his bed to try and get a better look at the stranger, but Felix took up the entire opening between the door and it’s frame.

 

“Uhm,” Hyunjin heard his best friend begin, “I mean, I can ask Hyunjin if he wants to go. Hold on a minute.” He said as he turned to greet Hyunjin with a smile. “Hey, Jinnie! My lovely best friend, the only person I can ever depend on with my life, the one guy I would die for!”

 

Hyunjin stared back at him with an incredulous look.

 

“Sooooo, apparently there’s this part thing tonight and-” Felix was cut off as their door was shoved the rest of the way open and Hyunjin winced at how hard the handle hit the wall behind it. One of the two boys from outside slipped through the new opening and began to talk a mile a minute. Hyunjin thought there was something familiar about him, but he couldn’t quite remember where he’d seen the boy for the life of him.

 

“It’s not _really_ a party. It’s a mixer to meet the new students. The upperclassmen always rent out a space on the night before a new term begins. There’s going to be food, and a DJ, and-. Okay, so it does kind of sound like a party, but I promise it won’t be lame!” The boy took half a second to breathe, “There’s going to be a huge stage where students can show off their dancing or whatever, and I personally have a number prepared, but it’s not mandatory or anything.”

 

The stranger looked between the two best friends expectantly as he waited for a reply. Felix only shrugged, but Hyunjin knew his best friend enough to tell that the other really wanted to go from the hopeful look in his eyes when he glanced Hyunjin’s direction.

 

“Sure. I don’t see why we shouldn’t go.” Hyunjin sighed and leaned back on the pillows behind him. Felix continued to talk with both of the other boys for a few moments, but curiosity got the best of Hyunjin just as they turned to leave.

 

“Wait,” he called out, all three of the other boys stopped to turn and look at him. “What are your names? I swear I’ve met you both once before.”

 

“My name is Han Jisung,” the lively chatterbox began, gesturing at himself before dragging his friend the rest of the way into the room. “And this is Seo Changbin. I didn’t think you would remember us, but we kind of ran into you in the hallway before your group audition a few weeks ago.”

 

_Oh._ Hyunjin thought. So those two were of the three students from that day, but neither were the one he remembered most. Hyunjin wondered where the one he’d spoken to was, but the two boys began to leave again before he had the chance to ask.

 

“Anyway, I’m glad both of you are coming tonight! There’s no dress code, just wear something comfortable. I’ve already given Felix the address, so I’ll see you guys there!”

 

Hyunjin let out an annoyed sigh and closed his eyes as soon as the door was shut. He could feel a headache coming on and that was the last thing he wanted to deal with in that moment.

 

“What?” Felix’s voice came from somewhere to the left of him before he felt the end of his bed dip down under the other’s weight as he sat down.

 

“I should be practicing tonight, not going out to some party.” Hyunjin answered him with his eyes still closed.

 

“Oh please, you have all year to practice, Jinnie! Let’s have fun for _one_ night. Lord knows when we’re going to have another free night before winter break.” Felix huffed, but Hyunjin rolled his eyes behind closed lids.

 

“Mmm, _fun…_ Right, because who doesn’t want to spend their one free night with a bunch of stuck up dance kids who miss their competition days so much that they came up with an excuse to have some unofficial one.” Hyunjin remarked in a sour tone. The whole bit about there being a stage for students to perform on at a _party_ did not sit well in his stomach.

 

There was some rustling for a moment before what Hyunjin assumed was a shirt landed on his face.

 

“Don’t be so fucking bitter, Jinnie.” Felix said as Hyunjin felt him stand up from his bed. “Come on, start getting ready. I want to go out to eat before the ‘not party.’”

 

Hyunjin drug the shirt away from his face with a groan and glared at Felix’s bare back before he shifted into a sitting position. Felix then turned to him while holding up two shirt options, silently asking the other boy to help pick one out.

 

“Whatever. But I am _not_ performing.” Hyunjin mumbled, pointing to the blue tank Felix was holding in his left hand.

 

“Fine with me.” The shorter boy answered with a wink.

 

-

 

The lame ‘not party’ event turned out to be exactly how Hyunjin imagined it would be like, except with more lingering stares than he’d anticipated. Jisung and his sidekick had pulled Felix away the moment they arrived, so Hyunjin was left to his own defense in the middle of a couple hundred other students that looked like they were ready to murder him.

 

Most of them looked away as soon as Hyunjin made eye contact with them, but there were a few that must have felt like he was challenging them with the way they glared back at him. There was one guy, however, who actually made his way to Hyunjin once they locked gazes, relentlessly shoving away the students in his path until he was only about a foot in front of where Hyunjin stood.

 

“Bang Chan,” he introduced himself with an outstretched hand. Hyunjin took it hesitantly as the other male continued speaking. “But no one really calls me by my full name except for Minho when he gets antsy. You can just call me Chan.”

 

“Who?” Hyunjin recognized the guy now that he was so close to him. He was one of the two younger men that were sitting in for his group audition, but not the one who’d kept his eyes on him through most of the process.

 

“Oh, umm, my best friend, Minho. He mentioned running into you right before your audition a few weeks ago. Said he was going to meet me here, but he’s probably caught up in a practice room or something. Which is a shame, because I’m sure he would love to have been able to meet you here tonight. Well, meet you properly that is.”

 

Hyunjin repeated the name in his head a few times. Minho… he liked it.

 

“Anyway,” Chan continued, “You’re here just in time to see Woojin, he’s up next! I should go let the DJ know his song, so see you around?”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Hyunjin nodded with a small wave as the boy turned to leave.

 

Hyunjin watched on in awe as Woojin danced a beautiful contemporary piece. He immediately recognized the older boy to be the one who’d stared him down during the group audition which had him paying even more attention to the boy’s skill. He was broad and filled the entire stage with his presence that commanded the eyes of every student in the room effortlessly. His dance was full of grace and it made Hyunjin feel at peace just to watch him.

 

Changbin and Felix joined Hyunjin by the drinks about halfway through the dance, eventually followed by Chan, who was quick to strike up a conversation with Felix that Hyunjin couldn’t help but listen in on.

 

Felix had been late to watch Woojin, but Hyunjin could tell that his best friend was just as awestruck as himself once his eyes landed on the boy on stage. Chan must have taken notice as well if his words were anything to judge by.

 

“He’s brilliant up there, isn’t he?” Chan asked, eyes trained on Felix’s face rather than his friend on stage.

 

Felix nodded slowly with his mouth still wide open.

 

_You’ll catch flies like that, Lix._ Hyunjin tried to telepathically send the thought to his best friend. Unnecessarily so, he realized, when Chan reached over to gently push Felix’s chin up to close his mouth.

 

“He’s gorgeous. He conveys so much emotion just with his movements, I-” Felix quit talking as the dance ended so that he could applaud the boy as he took a bow on the stage. Hyunjin looked back and forth to make sure he was seeing right; that Woojin’s eyes were fixed on where Chan’s hand still touched Felix’s chin.

 

Chan hummed, “I do all of the behind the scenes work when it comes to choreography, song choice, sometimes song making. But Woojin… he really brings my visions to life, you know?”

 

Changbin coughed to clear the awkward silence that fell over the four of them after that, “Uhhh, Jisung is about to perform and Felix needs to get ready. You got your shoes?” He asked with his hand on Felix’s wrist as he began to tug him away.

 

“Give ‘em a show, Lix!” Hyunjin called after them.

 

“You two are cute.” Chan observed out loud he looked Hyunjin up and down, as if he were sizing the younger up for some reason unknown to Hyunjin.

 

“Uh, thanks? I guess? We’ve been friends since we were little. I guess we’re just naturally that way.”

 

Hyunjin became immensely confused at the almost saddened expression that flashed across the older boy’s face before he snapped back to his usual friendly self. “Come on, Hwang. Let’s go find a better view for Jisung since I’m sure you’ll want to watch Felix from somewhere that’s _not_ the drink table, too.”

 

Jisung’s song choice was more upbeat and Hyunjin found that he enjoyed the other’s hip hop/jazz style immensely! It definitely matched the boy’s free spirited personality, and the undertones of sexiness were tasteful and showcased his technique well. Hyunjin was impressed, to say the least.

 

He clapped politely as the chatterbox made his way off the stage, but could not contain his whistles and hollers as Felix’s name was announced and the younger boy appeared on stage. Hyunjin giggled at his best friend’s mismatched sock choice and recognized the music as his solo audition piece when it began. Hyunjin looked to the side to gauge Chan’s reaction; as the proud best friend he was, he wanted to make sure everyone in the entire room knew just how brilliantly Felix danced, but the shorter male was nowhere to be seen. The faces that surrounded Hyunjin were ones he didn’t recognize at all, so he focused back on Felix’s performance.

 

Having helped Felix a bit with the dance, Hyunjin still remembered the choreography step for step as Felix really go into it. How they had spent countless nights researching what kind of chair would be best for a stage prop, ordering it, and endless hours of both trying out their own strength against the chair to make the dance as cohesive as possible. It all paid off, Hyunjin thought, his mouth pulled into a giant smile that almost hurt his face as he watched Felix perform the whole dance effortlessly. Hyunjin knew that Felix excelled in almost every dance genre, like himself, but he knew more than anyone that jazz definitely suited Felix the best, and he felt like a proud parent as the dance came to an end and the audience of students burst into cheers that were drowned out by Hyunjin’s own.

 

_“Hwang Hyunjin, first year.”_

 

Hyunjin froze in place as his name was announced over the crowd’s applause.

 

There had to be a mistake. He never wrote his name down on the sign-up sheet. He didn’t volunteer to dance. He specifically remembered swearing that he _wouldn’t_ perform at all.

 

He began to look around the crowd frantically, his eyes searching helplessly for Felix, who had just left the stage but was nowhere in sight. Arms began to come into Hyunjin’s vision as the strangers around him began to shove him toward the stage with snide remarks each time he tried to break away from their grasps.

 

_“Come on, Scholarship.”_

_“We know you parents have money, why would someone like you need such a scholarship?”_

_“You must have some skill if they granted it to you.”_

_“Why don’t you show us how you got it?”_

 

The voices swam around his head and his vision threatened to swim with them. Hyunjin was roughly backed into the edge of the stage with nowhere to go unless he climbed up onto it. His body moved against his will as he lifted his leg onto the edge and hoisted himself up the rest of the way and stared at the wall that faced away from the crowd. His ears were ringing from the panic that coursed through him from being pushed and shoved and crowded, but he worked to take long breaths to clear them.

 

Another deep breath and he began to kick off his shoes and shed the shirt off his back. He was stubborn, but Hwang Hyunjin was not a coward.

 

He turned his head in the direction of the DJ’s booth, but refused to make eye contact with the person running it.

 

“Hozier, Take Me to Church. Full version.” Hyunjin demanded before turning on his heel so that his body faced the crowd and sank to his knees. He missed the way the DJ’s eyes shot up at his song request, and anyone else’s potential reaction as he glared down at the stage’s floor mercilessly. All of the dances up until his were only a minute or two long, but his would be just over four. They wanted a show? He would give them a damn show, and teach them a little thing about balance and stamina along the way.

 

Hyunjin had no clue what possessed him to do it in the end, but he didn’t see himself getting out of the situation without showing them _something_. If he didn’t dance right then, they would most definitely come looking for answers at a later time, he had no doubt about it. He figured he may as well get it over with sooner with rather than later.

 

Hyunjin took two deep breaths as the first chord of the song filled the room and pushed the hair away from his face before beginning the dance.

 

He remembered all of the anger and passion that went into choreographing the dance. All the times he wanted to scream at his parents for being so unfair to him, but biting his tongue instead, because didn’t they know what was best for him? The late nights when he was drenched in his own sweat while the same stupid song rang throughout his studio for the millionth time as he tried to perfect the timing, the power balance, the weight distribution so that he could stick the landing for the last fucking time. The days of sore muscles that rendered him useless because he overworked himself to the point of hardly being able to move which resulted in Felix’s scolding. Scolding that cut down to Hyunjin’s bones because he could see the worry in his best friend’s eyes when he asked, ‘ _Why are you trying so hard for your solo? You know that all it will take is a single pirouette from you to be accepted. You’re that good, Jinnie!’_ because a single pirouette wasn’t good enough for what Hyunjin needed.

 

He remembered every moment that he wanted to wanted to just give up and cry his eyes out.

 

But he took that anger and passion and turned it into something beautiful. And if the judges and mentors and whoever else granted him that damned scholarship found him worthy of it, then the hell of everything that lead up to it was worth it.

 

Now, all the faces that had just cornered him into doing the dance, _they_ were the main source of his anger, and Hyunjin made damn sure that he put every bit of that pent up rage into his performance in hopes of shutting them all up for good. He couldn’t even remember the last time he performed with so much vigor, and before he knew it he was back on his knees in the same position he started in as the music began to fade away.

 

Silence.

 

The only noise in the whole place came from Hyunjin’s ragged breathing as he stood up and finally looked at the awestruck faces in the crowd. He swallowed hard between pants and rolled his eyes as he briefly skimmed over the faces once more and gave them a half-assed curtsy before he grabbed his shoes and shirt to walk off the stage.

 

He met Woojin’s gaze across the entire audience and huffed when the older male nodded once with a knowing smirk on his lips.

 

Felix was by Hyunjin’s side the moment his foot left the last step off the stage and worked to keep up with the angered dancer. Felix’s face was overcome with worry and concern, but Hyunjin refused to him until he’d nearly finished gulping down an entire bottle of water.

 

“Jinnie, I’m so sorry! I had no idea they would do th-”

 

“Forget it,” Hyunjin panted, still winded from the performance. “You stay and have fun. I’m going to practice.”

 

The taller male turned to leave, but not before a firm hand took hold of his wrist. He spared a glance back toward Felix for only a moment as the shorter boy spoke, “Don’t over do it, okay? You have class first thing in the morning…”

 

Hyunjin could tell that his best friend was wary to let him leave alone, but he needed some space and time to think to himself without anyone else around to bother him. It wasn’t the most pleasant feeling to know that there was basically a huge target on his back by the whole student body, and every student was guilty until proven innocent in his eyes. Including Felix’s quickly-made friends, Changbin and Jisung. Hyunjin wasn’t even so sure he could trust Woojin at this point, as he was more than sure the older male had been the one to slip his name if the smirk he gave Hyunjin was anything to go by.

 

“Don’t worry about me, just have fun. But the same goes for you, little one.” Hyunjin lightly poked Felix’s nose for for emphasis. “Don’t stay out too late. Your class might not be as early as mine, but I won’t hesitate to wake your ass up at the crack of dawn with me.” He joked with him, knowing that it would help put his friend’s mind at ease.

 

-

 

Hyunjin jogged from the party venue all the way back to the dormitory, stopping only to unlock his room and grab his dance bag before he headed to the dance annex to find a studio he could lose himself in for a few hours.

 

There were six smaller studios down the first hallway, a couple of which were occupied, which ultimately had him deciding to try his luck down another one. He could hear music coming from an open studio as soon as he entered the new hall. Hyunjin groaned and cursed whoever was already practicing before he made his way toward the music. Technically, students were not allowed to keep the doors open if their music was going to be so loud, but Hyunjin guessed whoever the student was had decided that they could get away with it for the night since there was practically no one else around.

 

Hyunjin remembered Chan mentioning that Minho might be practicing, but he never thought that he would actually find him in a practice room.

 

He should have turned around right then and there when he saw the older boy doing spins across the room, but they way he danced had Hyunjin captivated. The smaller boy didn’t really have a ballet dancer’s body, but holy hell, he managed to pull off the dance style so effortlessly. As one song ended another one started, and as long as the music was playing, Minho kept dancing. It went on for so long that Hyunjin had lost track of time while watching him, but he could have watched Minho for days on end.

 

A new song had began, but Minho stood frozen with his back to Hyunjin for almost half a minute before Hyunjin bothered glancing into the mirror. Hyunjin’s eyes grew impossibly wide when he saw Minho’s own confused expression staring back at him before he began to turn and face him, but the young dancer was already making a break for it down the hall.

 

He ducked into an empty studio that had the lights turned off and hid in the shadows just as a voice rang through the building.

 

“Hyunjin? W-wait!”

 

Hyunjin could hear his footsteps echo through the hall as he grew closer and he could swear his heart stopped for at least two seconds when the footsteps paused right outside the door to his hiding spot.

 

He didn’t begin to breathe freely until he heard Minho begin to walk back in the direction he’d just come from and Hyunjin clutched a hand to his chest in attempt to calm his racing heart as the strange boy’s footsteps grew faint. Minho had caught him ogling at him while he was in the middle of practicing and the younger was far too embarrassed to stick around for a chat.

 

One thing left him confused… How the hell did Minho already know his name?

* * *

 

 

Link to thread of dance videos: [HERE](https://twitter.com/lovelyjjix/status/1106770465002057728?s=20)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix
> 
> as always, comments and kudos are appreciated greatly and i thank you in advance! love you guys~


	4. Fill In + Pirouettes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What really struck him as strange was the uneven ratio of boys to girls; five girls to six boys?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually two of the original chapters combined since they were both filler chapters. I hope you guys enjoy nonetheless!

_ barre _

  1. 1.

a horizontal bar at waist level on which ballet dancers rest a hand for support during certain exercises.




 

 

_ pir·ou·ette _

__

BALLET

  1. 1.

an act of spinning on one foot, typically with the raised foot touching the knee of the supporting leg.




* * *

 

 

“You WHAT?!” Minho half-yelled at Woojin and nearly choking on the sip of warm tea he had just taken. There were a few questioning stares from the other few customers around the cafe, but he ignored them.

 

It was the first day of the new term, but to Minho it felt like the previous term never ended and that summer break never happened, like they were picking up exactly where they left off. During their previous year, Minho, Woojin and Chan ran into a couple of first years at the same cafe the three of them visited every Monday morning before class. Friendships were formed fast and thus meeting at the cafe became the routine, helping each of them kick-start their weeks with copious amounts of caffeine and sugar.

 

“I wrote his name down on the performance sheet. Trust me, I was doing him a big favor. Those kids looked like they were about to eat him alive.” Woojin calmly attempted to explain his intentions, but Minho was far too caught up in recounting the night before when he caught the Hyunjin boy watching him dance.

 

He’d known for a long while that someone was watching him him practice, but he didn’t know who it was for some time. He had caught the reflection of their silhouette in the mirror, but it wasn’t until he stopped dancing and actually looked that he recognized the boy’s face. Minho had called out to him without any sort of plan on what he was going to say had the boy actually stuck around, but he’d taken off once he realized Minho’s eyes were on him.

 

“Wait. It was _you?_ ” Jisung’s worried voice interrupted Minho’s thoughts. “Oh my gosh… Poor thing. He probably thinks it was me or Changbinnie! We’ll have to clear that up before he begins to think that we hate him. I feel so bad. I was just as curious as everyone else, but not to _that_ extent. Damn.” He said with a sigh as he stirred the straw around in his iced coffee.

 

“Kid has talent, though. And so does his friend. First year’s usually aren’t that polished. Must be something in the water at their home studio.” Changbin spoke up for the first time since having his coffee. He was much like Woojin in that he didn’t speak much unless it was really necessary, but more like Chan when he was excited about something and near-impossible to shut up. Jisung, on the other hand, was like a carbon copy of Minho; constantly talking, a bit annoying sometimes, but undeniably adorable at all times (if Minho did say, himself!).

 

“Mmm, I am definitely interested in seeing more from this Felix boy as well.” Chan chimed in with an impish grin.

 

Minho rolled his eyes and tried to tuned the rest of their conversation out as much as possible, seeing as he had already sat through Woojin and Chan gushing over Felix’s freckles for almost fifteen minutes non-stop the night before.

 

“Oh! We better get going, class starts in thirty minutes.” Jisung informed them and stood up to throw away the wrapper his bagel had come in. Changbin, Chan and Minho did the same with their trash, Chan, ever the gentleman, taking Woojin’s for him, and made their way to the exit together.

 

“Woojin…” Minho started once they were out in the sticky humid morning heat, “you know what you did was wrong on so many levels, right? You should have at least filmed it so that I could have seen the performance!” The shorter dancer whined with a weak slap to Woojin’s arm as they walked down the sidewalk together, but smiled fondly at the other three walking and cutting up a few steps ahead of them.

 

“You’ll just have to go see it for yourself.” Woojin said with a gentle nudge of his shoulder against Minho’s.

 

“Do you think he’ll be okay? Even after your attempt to _help_ him out?” Minho questioned him. From the way Jisung had described his short encounters with Hyunjin, the kid sounded like a toss up. Minho probably understood his situation more than anyone else, and if it was anything like he imagined, things weren’t going to be easy for Hyunjin at all. Of course, Minho didn’t know the whole story, just that the other students had done some research on Hyunjin right after the opening ceremony and that his dad was some rich doctor and his mom a high-end lawyer. But Minho wasn’t going to judge him based on those facts alone. He would at least get to know him, first.

 

“Honestly? I have no idea. He seems like he can handle his own just fine, but I think having a friend like you in his life would do him good, too.”

 

“Mmm,” Minho hummed his response around the lid of his to-go cup and the two of them continued the rest of the walk to the academy in a comfortable silence, both smiling softly at the other boys’ goofing off.

-

Hyunjin glanced down at the class schedule in his hand and back up at the numbers next to the door and repeated the action a couple of times over to make sure he was at the right studio before he slowly turned the door handle.

 

There was still at least thirty minutes until classes were scheduled to start, but Hyunjin had woke up nearly an hour before his alarm was set to go off and he hadn’t been able to go back to sleep. He _had_ contemplated actually waking Felix up to see if he would want to get breakfast with him, but ultimately decided to let his best friend sleep when he remembered just how late the other had stayed out the night before.

 

There’d been very few students walking around the halls, and even fewer seated at the various tables and booths in the cafeteria silently eating their breakfasts with their faces glued to the screens of their phones. If anything, Hyunjin was thankful that they were all too engrossed in food and social media applications to bother glancing up as he’d made his way to where the buffet-style breakfast bar was located. He didn’t need any unwanted attention that early in the morning, especially after the shit he went through at the party. But as more and more students began to file into the cafeteria, Hyunjin quickly finished his food and left before it became too crowded.

 

He’d even had time to scout out where the rest of his classes were to take place before he came to the studio of his first one. And as fate would have it, Hyunjin recognized the studio to be the exact same one that Minho had been practicing in the night before. He couldn’t help but wonder if that particular studio was one that the other frequented and if they would meet in it again in the near future.

 

“Oh!” Hyunjin was startled by another person already sitting on the floor by the mirrors in the middle of a stretch. “I didn’t expect to see anyone else in here so early in the morning.” Hyunjin admitted with an awkward chuckle. He didn’t miss the way the stranger’s eyebrows shot up once he got a good look at Hyunjin.

 

“Been here for about twenty minutes, already.” he said shortly and stood up to begin another stretching exercise. “Good thing you showed up before anyone else, though. It’d be a shame if I were to outshine our dear Scholarship on the first day of term.” He smirked with a bat of his eyelashes in Hyunjin’s direction.

 

 _“Right.”_ Hyunjin muttered, walking toward the back of the spacious room to set down his bag. He should have known that people would still be like _that,_ even after the ‘show’ he’d put on.

 

 _So much for making new friends,_ he thought to himself as light footsteps approached him from behind. Hyunjin turned around to meet the other’s eyes with an expectant look.

 

“I’m just kidding, man. I woke up too early and couldn’t go back to sleep.” He laughed, the sound genuine and carefree, but Hyunjin wasn’t fully convinced. Still, he decided to give the other boy the benefit of the doubt when he politely held out one of his hands to shake. “My name is Seungmin.”

 

“Same, actually.” Hyunjin began once he’d reluctantly settled his own hand into the other’s grasp. He could physically feel his entire body relax from its stiff position at the friendly gesture, and even cracked a smile of his own. “About not being able to sleep, I mean! My name isn’t Seungmin, too. It’s Hyun-”

 

“Hyunjin. Yes, I know.” Seungmin nodded his head once their hands were back to their sides. “There’s probably very few people in this academy who do not already know your name because of the whole opening ceremony scholarship recognition thing. And, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit miffed as well when I found out that they gave a full-ride scholarship to someone as well off as you…”

 

Seungmin leveled his gaze and Hyunjin could almost _feel_ the intense respect he saw in the other’s eyes before he continued, “But after last night, it’s painfully obvious as to why you were chosen for it. Sadly, I don’t think everyone will have the same positive outlook as I do. So I’m sure class is going to be… _interesting,_ to say the least.” He said with a faltering smile.

 

So Hyunjin hadn’t been too far off in thinking it was going to be difficult to make new friends. That was fine. He didn’t choose the academy to make friends, anyway.

 

The two of them continued their conversation while they set barres up around the room so that they would be ready for the rest of the class. Hyunjin learned where Seungmin was from and that he chose the academy because it would look good on his resume when he applied for the Royal Ballet, even though his area of dance expertise was _tap._ He seemed ambitious, but not entirely unrealistic. They talked a lot about their competition days and compared medal and trophy counts; Seungmin won when it came to the medals, but Hyunjin surpassed him with his national titles and learned that the other boy held a few of them as well.

 

Hyunjin told him a bit about Felix and how the two of them came to the academy together, and Hyunjin learned that Seungmin met his roommate for the first time only a few days prior, but he would also be taking the same ballet class with them. Hyunjin also learned that this certain roommate was the main reason behind Seungmin’s earlier comment about class being ‘interesting.’

 

He had also applied for the same scholarship that Hyunjin received. _Great._

 

“He should have gone to the party last night. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so bitter toward you, but he stayed here and practiced, instead.” Seungmin shuddered and Hyunjin found himself grateful that he hadn’t run into the other’s roommate when he came to the studios. “He’s a fucking overachiever if you ask me. I thought he would be the type that would _want_ to show off his skills to everyone. But,” Seungmin held up a finger between them with a grin, “aside from all of the shit he’s talked about you, even though he’s never met you, he’s a pretty chill guy. Who knows, maybe you two will become the best of buds!” The enthusiastic boy said with a sarcastic smile.

 

“Yeah, _sure_ we will.” Hyunjin replied in an equally sarcastic tone.

 

Other students began to slowly fill in the room, one-by-one until the clock on the back wall read exactly 7:30AM. The size of the class was much smaller than Hyunjin imagined it would be, but then he remembered it was an advanced class, so about ten students was probably a normal amount. What really struck him as strange was the uneven ratio of boys to girls; five girls to six boys?

 

 _Maybe someone is just late,_ he thought to himself as a woman who looked to be in her early forties walked into the studio and closed the door behind her. With her she carried a small stack of papers that she sat down on a podium that stood in the front left corner of the room.

 

Hyunjin quickly followed Seungmin to the nearest barre and joined in with the chorus of ‘hello’ around the room with a deep bow.

 

“Hello and good morning to you all!” She greeted the class cheerfully, and Hyunjin found himself hoping that she wouldn’t be so chipper every day of the week, or else it was going to be a _very_ long semester. “I hope you all had a good night’s rest and that you’re fresh and ready for all of the new experiences this year will bring you! Since it’s the first day, we will just be going over the syllabus and classroom procedures, and then I have a fun partner exercise that we’ll close with.” She said with an over-enthusiastic and finalizing clap before looking around the room for some sort of response from the small group of students and opting to grab the stack of papers off the podium when she was met with silence.

 

“Oh, I’ll take attendance first so we can get that out of the way. I still need to put names to your beautiful faces, so bear with me for a little bit.”

 

Hyunjin tried his best to do the same as the first few names were called. Even if no one in the class had any intentions of being friendly with him, he figured that he should still get to know their names at the very least. But he was caught off guard when his name was called sooner than expected, all heads turning straight toward him before he could even answer their teacher.

 

“H-Here!” Hyunjin called out with a raised hand so that she could pick him out among the class. Though, he highly doubted he needed to say anything. With all of the attention already on him she could have just used context clues to figure out the rest.

 

“Glad to have you here, Mr Hwang.” She said with a bright smile in his direction.

 

Hyunjin’s heart sank slightly at the action. He hoped that he wouldn’t go through any sort of favoritism or special treatment because of his scholarship status. It was the _last_ thing he needed.

 

“Next…”

 

Hyunjin focused back on the attendance when he realized he’d missed a few names. “Na Jaemin?” She questioned and looked around the studio until the boy at the barre to Hyunjin’s left spoke up.

 

“Here,” he answered with a sickeningly sweet smile that left an unsettling feeling in Hyunjin’s stomach.

 

The process of going through the syllabus was painless for the most part. Aside from learning there would be online assignments along with a semester long pas de deux project, Hyunjin didn’t think it would be too daunting of a class. Though, he was fairly curious as to how they were supposed to each have a partner for the pas de deux project if there was an uneven amount of students in the class. He wondered if there would be a stand-in student from another class.

 

Their teacher was just about to begin splitting them into pairs when she was interrupted by a short knock on the door. Hyunjin instantly recognized the long eyelashes and shining silver hair as Minho peeked his head into the studio before he stepped all the way in and closed the door behind him.

 

“Ah, Minho! It is so nice to see you again, dear. Did you have something to ask me, or…?” The teacher trailed off, letting the question hang in the air.

 

“Actually, I have free time in the mornings and I was wondering if you might need an extra body for demonstrations, or whatever, really. I can help out with whatever you need.” The shorter boy explained as he walked closer to the podium.

 

Their teacher looked absolutely ecstatic, but Hyunjin felt that unsettling feeling sink even further.

 

“Of course, that would be great! And you’re just in time, we were just about to finish up the class with a partner exercise, but it seems as though we have an uneven amount of girls to boys. I was just going to fill in, but would you mind partnering up with one of the boys?” Came the million dollar question that Hyunjin saw coming from kilometers away.

 

“I would love to!” Minho exclaimed with bright eyes before he glanced around the room to get a good look at each of the boys, no doubt sizing them up as he went. Hyunjin avoided making eye contact with him as best as he could in hope to discourage any thought the other might have had of pairing up with Hyunjin.

 

“Is there anyone who would like to volunteer to be Minho’s partner for the exercise?” The teacher asked, addressing only the boys of the class.

 

“Hyunjin said he would love to!”

 

Said boy’s eyes grew impossibly wide when Seungmin’s voice rang out beside him in the otherwise silent room.

 

“Traitor!” Hyunjin whispered harshly in Seugnmin’s direction with an unforgiving glare as a round of applause broke out among the rest of the students who were no doubt just amused that Hyunjin had been called out. A sense of deja vu washed over him as he thought about the similarities between that moment and when his name had been called out at the party. He knew there would be no getting out of the partner exercise, either.

-

“So, do you want to stretch me first, or should I stretch you?”

 

“Excuse me?!” Hyunjin whisper-yelled, which caused Seungmin and his partner to cast curious glances their way.

 

“What did you think I mean? Get your head out of the gutter, Scholarship.” Minho gestured around the room at the rest of the students who’d been paired as they began to help each other stretch.

 

Hyunjin understood then, cursing himself for letting his mind wander like that so easily. Once he and Minho were sitting across from each other on the floor and with their legs partially straddled, Hyunjin offered his arms out for Minho to take.

 

“My _name_ is Hyunjin.” Hyunjin snapped as Minho slid the palms of his hands from where they were resting on Hyunjin’s wrists all the way up to his elbows, delicately curling his fingers around the younger’s arms. Hyunjin squirmed a little under the touch, but forced himself to focus on the stretch.

 

 _It’s only temporary,_ he reminded himself for what felt like the billionth time since the moment Seungmin opened his mouth and volunteered him. Their teacher had at least told him it would be temporary once everyone was split into their pairs. She explained that since Hyunjin had enrolled at the last minute, there weren’t enough girls in the class for each of the boys to have a partner just yet, and that Minho’s position would only be relevant until they could find a girl with enough time to take the class.

 

The well-mannered and desperate-to-please side of Hyunjin had accidentally spilled out an ‘Oh no, it’s fine.’ when the teacher apologized for to him for having to be paired up with another guy, but he hoped to all gods listening that she didn’t think he was being serious when he said it.

 

“So I have heard.” Minho responded with a smirk while he positioned his feet against the sides of Hyunjin’s legs before he slowly began to lean back and gently pulled on the younger’s arms until most of Hyunjin’s body was parallel to the hardwood dance floor. Anyone could tell from just a glance that the younger boy had annoyingly long legs, but Minho didn’t realize just how long of a torso he had until Hyunjin’s face was nearly leveled with his own crotch.

 

Minho cleared his throat at the sudden closeness. He itched to strike up any sort of conversation, knowing that they would get absolutely nowhere if he was to let more awkward silences come between them.

 

“I’m Minho, by the way. Lee Minho.” He said matter-of-factly, though he figured that Hyunjin already knew as much since the teacher had introduced him to the class.

 

“So I’ve heard.” Hyunjin mimicked, craning his neck to glance up at the older boy.

 

That’s when it happened for the third time in a month; Minho found himself at a loss for words when his slightly annoyed glare met the younger’s teasing gaze. He let his eyes wander to where Hyunjin’s full lips were slightly parted, letting himself stare at them for only a second before his eyes continued to follow along the younger boy’s sharp jawline and all the way down to his prominent Adam’s apple.

 

Minho felt his face warming up as a blush threatened to surface, and twisted his hold on Hyunjin’s arms, hoping the other would understand the action and switch their positions quickly.

 

Minho finally let out the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in once his own torso was parallel to the hardwood flooring beneath them. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to the floor with each time he exhaled, until his nose was just centimeters from touching it. Minho know that it really had to be stressful on Hyunjin’s lower back to be able to pull him forward _that_ far, but if the younger was in any discomfort, he certainly did not make it known.

 

The two boys kept quiet for the remainder of the allotted stretching block, and to Hyunjin’s surprise, Minho did not say a single word to him throughout the entire demonstration held by their teacher and another student. He began to fear that mimicking the older boy may have offended him somehow, but he didn’t let the worry consume him. Instead, he forced himself to focus on the combination being demonstrated in front of the class.

 

The aforementioned partner exercise their teacher had been so excited about turned out to be pirouettes in pairs. The students were given a few minutes to get used to their partners and work out anything they might like to add into the exercise themselves if they wished to do so.

 

Minho was far too eager to wear pointe shoes again, and even went as far asking Hyunjin to forgive him in advance, claiming that he was still a bit rusty in them.

 

That was a lie, of course. Minho danced flawlessly in the shoes, and it caught Hyunjin off guard just how easy it was to adjust to dancing with another guy. Sure, he’d performed countless duets with Felix in the past, but those dances were always choreographed specifically for two strong male dancers. It was different when the choreography was more suited for a male and female pairing.

 

Minho, however, was sold the moment he felt Hyunjin’s strong hands settle on either side of his waist. He forced himself to focus on a spot on the back wall for each turn he took as they completed the assigned exercise without any errors. They continued with a small combination they came up with during the practice time and Minho faltered for a split second when he felt Hyunjin’s hands fall away from his waist -the elder had not been joking when he said he was still rusty in the pointe shoes. Hyunjin did a couple of impressive pirouettes of his own and in time with Minho’s before coming to a stop with his hand held out for the other boy to take and spin himself into Hyunjin’s hold. Minho could feel Hyunjin’s chest rising and falling against his back with each of their matched ragged breaths.

 

He didn’t look away from the same spot on the wall until he heard the polite applause coming from the rest of the students, only looking up to catch Hyunjin’s gaze on him in the mirror.

 

What Minho had felt when the two of them danced so effortlessly across the studio was equivalent to the way someone would describe as seeing fireworks when kissing _the one,_ and as they broke away from each other Minho made a mental note to thank Woojin.

 

So, if anything, Minho and Hyunjin danced particularly well with each other.

 

 _Too well,_ Hyunjin thought while at the same time Minho’s mind raced with ideas of how to get the younger boy to agree to being his dance partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix
> 
> comments and kudos are always appreciated, so thank you in advance~


	5. Push & Pull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Even one minute late and you can forget it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one kind of goes back and forth from Hyunjin and Minho's POVs a little bit. hhhhhhh the drama will really kick off starting in the next chapter. 
> 
> Minho has a bit of a freak out/panic attack of sorts about halfway through this chapter, though. Just a heads up, it's not detailed, but more shown through his actions.

There was an undeniable sinking feeling in the pit of Hyunjin’s stomach as he swam the length of the rooftop pool for the tenth time - he was keeping count. It was something like how he was told to count sheep as a child in order to fall asleep except now he swam laps and counted them in order to help clear his mind, or at least to keep it at bay.

He'd gone to the rooftop to escape for a bit after having decided he needed some quiet time to think for a while. Initially, he had only planned to float around on his back and watch as the sky changed from the early purples and blues into warm oranges and pinks. But the things he had pushed to the back of his brain ended up having his full attention in the peaceful stillness of the water, and Hyunjin found himself scoffing at the irony of how he could feel so weighed down with worry while he freely floated about in the pool.

That was when he decided to start doing laps.

Thoughts of what he was going to do when the winter and summer breaks came about clouded his brain. Where would he go during those times when he had basically been kicked out of his own home? Was he actually kicked out, though? He really had no clue where he stood with his parents anymore. Neither of them bothered to see him off, or even so much as responded to him when he tried to tell them goodbye.

He supposed he could always stay with his sister during the breaks. She seemed supportive enough of his decisions and even helped him move into his dorm in the end, but he remembered her also mentioning that she planned to spend Christmas at home with their parents that year. He didn’t want to bother her, in any case, not with her taking on a new internship on top of her university classes.

Hyunjin knew he should tell Felix about his situation. He wanted to call him up the moment his parents told him they wouldn’t be helping out, but he knew his best friend. Felix would have done everything in his power in order to help Hyunjin out and not expect a single thing in return for it. But, being his stubborn self, Hyunjin could not bring himself to do it. He would have hated feeling like he had to depend so much on a single person. Up until now Felix had not questioned him, really, which frustrated Hyunjin even more than if his best friend had bothered him day in day out about it. Did he not find it strange that Hyunjin applied for such a large scholarship when he knew good and well about what his parents did for a living?

What bothered him the most was the thought that he could ultimately be hurting Felix even more in the end by not saying anything at all.

Eventually the thoughts in his head grew to being too loud in contrast to the silent rooftop. The laps, at nearly twenty or so, -he most definitely lost count while trying to sort out his thoughts- had not done a very good job of keeping his mind at bay. He only let himself wonder how long he had been swimming for a short moment before a new worry found its way into his thoughts. It was the one thing he would at least have an answer to soon enough, but it was also the answer that worried him the most as he reached the shallow end of the pool once again.

He dug his nails into the concrete edge that lined around the pool as he paused to catch his breath and only heard the telltale sound of footsteps approaching just seconds before the voice they belonged to spoke up.

“Shouldn’t you be in class, Scholarship?”

Hyunjin closed his eyes and bent backwards enough to dip the top of his head into the water in an attempt to get the hair out of his face, not bothering to turn and see who was speaking. He found it hard  _ not  _ to recognize such a voice after hearing it drone on and on during class every other day that week.

It was the fifth morning of the new term. The fifth hour and a half that Hyunjin would spend wondering if he would have to partner up with the ‘fill in’ again. Well… that was how it would have gone, had he actually shown up to class.

“Are you just now coming from  _ my  _ class after seeing that I wasn’t there?” He questioned the other, still facing away from him. “You know, I’d probably be a lot more willing to attend if you didn’t hang around it every damn day.” 

He finally turned to see Minho standing by the deep end of the pool, the other’s dance bag was placed next to Hyunjin’s own by one of the patio tables behind him. Minho’s hair color was different from the shiny silver he remembered it to be just a day prior. Now, it was a more natural looking dark brown.

“Why? Can’t concentrate in my presence? I know I’m good looking, but-”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Hyunjin scoffed, turning his back to the elder once more as he lifted his arms above his head pretending to stretch.

“Hmm,” Hyunjin didn’t like the sound of that hum, but he continued his facade.

“You wouldn’t perhaps be worried that we’ll get paired together again, eh?” Hyunjin froze in place halfway through the new stretch before he turned to face Minho, fully prepared to deny him once more.

“Ah,” Minho continued before he could open his mouth. “So that’s how it is… Why?” 

Minho cocked his head to the side. “Don’t you think we danced well together last time?”

That was the problem, Hyunjin thought. They danced  _ too  _ well together. Hyunjin fought with his brain to come up with some sort of bullshit answer to the elder’s spot on accusation.

“Relax, Scholarship. I can practically hear the gears turning in your head. I’m not here to pester you about dancing with me. Not this time, anyway.” Minho assured him with a small smile.

“What do you want then?” Hyunjin could feel himself bristle at each mention of the stupid nickname the student body had bestowed upon him. “And for the millionth time, my name is Hyunjin!”

“To give you a bit of advice.” Minho’s smile fell away and his expression turned serious as he crouched next to the edge of the pool. “You might think that with the money your parents have that you can waste time and skip class without any consequences, but it’s kind of a slap to the face to all the kids who also applied for that scholarship for you to just throw it away like this.”

“Wait, throw it away? What the hell are you talking about?” Hyunjin questioned him, swimming over to where the older boy was crouched.

Minho scoffed, blinking his eyes rapidly before he explained. “Did you not read the rules and consequences that came along with such an enormous sum of money? Do you  _ really  _ think you are going to get let off the hook for not attending class to go  _ swimming _ ?”

Hyunjin recalled skimming over everything there was to know about the scholarship, but he must have missed that one important section the other was talking about.

Minho continued talking, no doubt knowing that Hyunjin would get lost in his head again if he didn’t.

“You are going to get called out of class later by someone in the admissions department. They will ask why you were absent from class this morning and then go over the rules with you once again before giving out a punishment or docking your grade by one letter. A bit generous, if you ask me.” Minho watched as Hyunjin’s face screwed into confusion and horror at the same time.

“But it’s only the first week of school!” The younger exclaimed as panic started setting in.

“Well then that will teach you not to ditch class ever again. Better to learn early on, don’t you think?” Minho retorted without absolutely no pity in neither his voice or his expression.

“I-” Hyunjin cast his eyes down at the calm water that surrounded him. “Not that there’s anyone that would believe me, but I just can’t afford to lose this scholarship. I can’t.” Hyunjin said in a small voice that made him sound a lot weaker than he would have liked to sound in front of someone like Minho.

He heard the older male take in a deep breath, causing him to look up. Minho was looking at him with a much softer expression than the borderline scary one he had on his face just moments before. Silence hung between them for much too long before Minho began speaking again.

“I guess… I guess there might be  _ one  _ thing I can do that would help get you out of a punishment.” Minho sighed heavily. He seemed almost unsure of himself, but Hyunjin was more than ready to accept any help at that point.

“Really? What is it? I’ll do whatever it is!” Hyunjin probed desperately, swimming closer to the edge that the elder still crouched at with each question until he could settle his hands on the concrete next to Minho’s feet.

“Tell the people in the admissions department that you had a private lesson with me.” He said simply.

“But I didn’t?” Hyunjin trusted Minho, but not to the extent of lying to the school board.

“You will. Now.” Minho said without leaving the younger any room for arguments. He then reached a hand out to Hyunjin before continuing. “Get dried off and changed and meet me in studio 3-B. I know the curriculum pretty well, so I’ll have you caught up to your class within an hour or so. “I’m sure they wouldn’t want their dear Scholarship to be behind in class, now would they?” He joked.

Hyunjin stared at Minho’s outstretched hand.

Part of the younger dancer was overflowing with gratefulness toward Minho for being so nice to him, but the other part of him also couldn’t help but to wonder why. Why did he care if Hyunjin’s scholarship was to be taken away? No one else in the damn academy would give a shit, so what sort of fascination did Minho have with him to care whether he stayed or not?

Ultimately, Hyunjin knew that he didn’t have any choice but to accept Minho’s help, no matter what the elder’s underlying intentions might be.

Still, he was skeptic as he slowly lifted his gaze to level to meet Minho’s eyes once more. They were warm and filled with sincerity, so much so that it was almost painful to keep eye contact.

The following event was a perfect example of just how terribly awkward Hyunjin found himself to be when it came to dealing with serious situations. He just couldn’t function properly and tended to act out in ridiculous ways.

He rationalized his actions by the way he watched the glistening beads of sweat that were slowly beginning to roll over Minho’s temple as Hyunjin reached his hand out to meet Minho’s already stretched out one.

_ He must be hot,  _ Hyunjin thought before he gripped Minho’s small and slender hand between his fingers and started to pull himself forward as if he was going to get out of the pool with the elder’s help. Only, he stopped once their faces were nearly close enough to touch.

“What?” Minho questioned, eyes blinking wide and rapidly at the younger’s closeness.

“My name,” Hyunjin gripped his hand a little bit tighter with a small smile stretched far too thin on his lips to be kind, “is Hyunjin.” He began to pull back on Minho’s hand and with it came a look of realization washing over the elder’s face.

“Wait.” Minho whispered sharply and began to shake his head back and forth. “Wait, wait a minute! Please!” He tried again and struggled against the hold Hyunjin had on his hand, desperately trying to pull back, but it was painfully obvious who was stronger between the two of them. Still, Minho squirmed about while he stuttered over his words in attempt to free himself.

“Hyunjin-ssi, don’t! I swear to-  _ please sto-”  _ Hyunjin pulled on his hand once more and with enough force that Minho fell forward into the water next to him with a small yelp.

Hyunjin knew the elder would be mad, that much was obvious form the way he’d kept resisting. Not to mention that he was fully dressed in his dance attire with sneakers. But Hyunjin was at least considerate enough to make sure that the pants Minho was wearing did not have pockets, so there was no way his phone would get caught in the crossfire.

What Hyunjin did  _ not  _ expect was for the other to cling to his arms as if his life depended on it. That was when Hyunjin felt the first pang of guilt hit. Then Minho was coughing and sputtering from the water that must have gotten in his mouth when he fell into the pool, but what really hit hard was when the coughs turned into sobs.

Not knowing how to react in such a situation, Hyunjin put his hands around Minho’s waist to try and comfort him a bit. Minho’s nails dug even harder into his arms in retaliation, his eyes screwed shut and tears flowing nonstop.

“H-Hey, you’re okay. I was just playing around… I’m sorry.” Hyunjin tried.

Minho finally opened his eyes at the apology, but the look he gave Hyunjin was nothing short of incredulous. And  _ that  _ kind of look mixed with the tears that still fell down Minho’s cheeks was another excruciating punch to the gut.

“You… are s-such and idiot!” He half screamed while weakly pounding his fists against Hyunjin’s chest. “Seriously! I a-asked you to stop- no, I practically begged you!” Minho’s yelling echoed off the roof and Hyunjin only briefly hoped that no one came running to find out what the commotion was.

“Help me get out. Now!” The older boy snapped with a few more hits to Hyunjin’s chest. The younger complied immediately, a dreadful feeling settling in his stomach at the thought of possibly having ruined any chance of Minho helping him, now.

Hyunjin tightened his hold around Minho’s waist and moved them back to the edge of the pool before he lifted Minho out of the water and set him down as gently as he could. It was a bit of an awkward maneuver due to them being in the deep end of the pool, but Minho was light enough that it wasn’t too difficult.

Minho sat with his legs in the water for a moment and stared down at Hyunjin with an emotionless expression. The younger couldn’t tell if he wanted him to apologize again, or if he was thinking over whether or not he would still give him the lesson. He decided it was better to be safe than sorry and started to apologize once more.

“Look, I-”

“Studio 3-B.” Minho wiped away his tear tracks, a fruitless action since his hands were still wet, and sniffled. “You have twenty minutes. Even one minute late and you can forget it.” He said sharply before he stood and walked over to his dance bag. Hyunjin watched as he fished a small towel out of it and pat as much of himself dry as possible before leaving without another word.

-

Minho’s legs felt like jelly as he walked away from the pool. He forced himself to keep it together long enough to grab a towel from his dance bag and pat his arms and legs as dry as possible before he’d walked toward the rooftop exit.

He noticed just how badly his hands shook when he reached for the door handle and cursed himself for showing such signs of weakness. He pushed through the door with more force than necessary and quickly made his way down the stairs, but somehow missed a step along the way. Minho miraculously caught onto the railing before he could slip too far down the steps, but still managed to land on his ass. Hard.

“Ouch, for fuck’s sake!” He winced at both the pain and how loud his voice resonated through the stairwell and immediately hoped that no one was around to hear. He stood up slowly and reached around to rub at his backside, applying pressure in random areas until he winced at a particularly sore spot.

_ That’ll be a bruise. _

Minho continued down the steps with a sigh, albeit a bit slower than before, but still quicker than a leisurely stroll. If Hyunjin was serious about still getting a lesson he would probably be on his way soon enough, and Minho wasn’t in the mood to face the younger any more than necessary until then. His emotions were a complete mess after the pool incident and he intended to use every bit of the short time he had to compose himself as best as possible.

In what little tiny bit of defense that Hyunjin had, Minho knew that the younger really didn’t know what was going on and why Minho reacted the way he did, and he could tell the other meant it when he apologized. But at the same time, he’d given Hyunjin plenty of opportunities to stop when he asked.

It was more of a plea - _beg_ \- than asking, Minho’s mind reminded him. Whatever. What’s done was done, and Minho would rather plan out the spontaneous private he was about to give than worry about anything else during the time it took for him to get back to the dorms.

He had to have spent more time in search of Hyunjin than he realized. Minho was definitely not expecting Woojin to be out of class and back to their room already.

“Oh my god, you nearly scared the shit out of me, Woojin!” He exclaimed with a hand clutched to his chest as he hurriedly moved around the other boy and into their shared dorm. “Is your class already over?” Minho tried to make small talk as he made his way back and forth around the room, grabbing dry clothes and a bigger towel to dry his hair with.

“Yeah… We got out nearly fifteen minutes ago. I was just about to go find you since you’re usually back before me. Minho, why are you soaking wet?” Woojin questioned him worriedly.

The shorter boy froze in place for a moment before he continued to peel off his now freezing socks and replace them with new dry ones.

“I- I… I fell into the pool.” Minho quickly looked away when he saw the shock on Woojin’s face. “It was an accident, though! And thankfully Hyunjin was there! He got me out really quickly, don’t worry.” He explained as calmly as possible, stretching the truth a bit in order to keep Hyunjin in both Woojin  _ and  _ Chan’s good graces. He knew any one thing he told Woojin would soon enough make its way to Chan’s ears as well. 

Minho continued to avoid eye contact and finished changing his clothes as quickly as he could. He didn’t have time to waste, but he knew there would be no way to avoid Woojin’s worried questions, first.

“How the  _ hell  _ did you fall into the pool, Minho? What were you even doing up there? Did you just happen to forget that you can’t swim? And why was Hyunjin not in class? Why weren’t  _ you  _ in class? Minho, none of this is really adding up, here.” He fired question after question until Minho could feel his head begin to spin at the rapid pace -as if his emotions already being in overdrive wasn’t enough- and the room started to tilt in his vision.

Minho braced himself by sitting on the edge of his bed in hopes of keeping the dizziness from getting worse and tried to answer Woojin as best as he could.

“Y-You know me,” he smiled lazily, “I’m clumsy as fuck when I’m not dancing. I lost my balance while walking along the edge and fell in. I was up there because I went to look for Hyunjin when I noticed that  _ he  _ wasn’t in class this morning. Like I said, I’m just grateful that Hyunjin got to me before anything could happen. And don’t even start with me about the whole scholarship thing because I already told him.”

Woojin’s eyebrows shot up. He was most definitely just about to lecture Minho about the rules of the scholarship Hyunjin should be following, but remained silent as the shorter boy continued.

“He agreed to let me give him a private lesson here in a few- shit, I need to get going!” Minho sat up and finished lacing up a dry pair of sneakers before he slowly stood up from his bed. He didn’t want to risk having another dizzy spell.

He nearly made it to the door when Woojin’s hand caught his wrist and turned him back around, instantly gathering him into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry for getting worked up, okay? You know how I am, though. I would not be able to forgive myself if something had happened to you without me being there to save you.” Woojin spoke sincerely into the top of Minho’s head.

Minho let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and wrapped his arms around Woojin’s waist for a brief moment before he backed out of the embrace. “I’m sorry for worrying you, but I really have to leave now. It would look bad if I was late to my first private lesson of the term, right?” He continued to back away toward the door until he was close enough to rest a hand on the doorknob behind his back.

“Right, right. Go on. And tell Hyunjinnie I said hi!” Woojin answered him with a short wave and the hint of a smile playing at his lips. Minho returned the gesture and quickly made his way to the dance annex.

 

-

 

**[7:45AM] lix: y did that Minho guy just pound on our door looking for u?**

**[7:45AM] lix: his hair isn’t silver anymore**

**[7:46AM] lix: where the hell are u?**

**[7:46AM] lix: istg jinnie. i still had almost 20min to sleep**

**[7:47AM] lix: u aren’t stupid enough to skip class**

**[7:47AM] lix: or are u?**

**[7:52AM] lix: i’m going to kick ur ass for being woken up this early**

**[8:07AM] lix: are you okay at least?**

**[8:21AM] lix: i hope whatever you’re doing is more important than class**

**[8:28AM] lix: if you don’t answer me by the time i’m out of class hwang hyunjin, i will personally hunt you down and kill you.**

**[8:29AM] lix: i hope you’re okay.**

 

_ Shit. _

Eleven texts and five missed calls from Felix alone. Hyunjin hadn’t meant to worry him, or anyone for that matter. He just needed to clear his head for a bit, and it kind of worked for the most part. That was, until Minho had come around.

The elder dancer seemed to be the main source of the constant cloud of confusion that had began to suffocate Hyunjin’s mind and ability to think logically. That was why it took him nearly fifteen minutes of internal arguments with himself before he finally decided to trust Minho and go on with the stupid private. The stupid private that happened to be starting in less than five minutes and had him nearly flying down the stairs once he’d dried off and changed his clothes in the locker room near the pool.

He didn’t bother to check his phone for the time until he was scanning the hallway of the third floor in the dance annex, “I’m so fucking dead.” he mumbled to himself.

He was halfway through typing out a quick explanation to Felix when Minho’s voice caught his attention.

“You’re late.” He deadpanned, leaning against the door frame of one of the studios ‒ studio 3-B, Hyunjin observed as he walked closer.

“By fifteen seconds at the very most!” Hyunjin felt the need to argue back, just in case the elder really meant the whole ‘forget it’ part, earlier. “And you said by even one  _ minute  _ late I could forget it, but it has not been a whole minute, yet.” He glanced past Minho to look at the clock on the wall in the studio just to make sure he wasn’t lying.

He wasn’t. He smiled down at Minho and bat his eyelashes for good measure when the older boy rolled his eyes.

“Okay, smartass, I trust that you’re all warmed up from your leisurely swim? We should get straight to it then.” Minho turned his body so that Hyunjin could walk into the studio, “Go set your bag down in the back and bring a barre closer to the mirrors on your way back. We’ll have you caught up in no time.”

Hyunjin wasn’t so sure he liked the gleam in Minho’s eyes as he talked, but did as he was told anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated. I really hope you guys are enjoying this story. It's one that I love dearly and I'm beyond happy to share. Please give it lots of love~
> 
> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix


	6. Adagio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **adagio** \- a succession of slow and graceful movements which may be simple or of the most complex

**_plié_ - **a movement in which a dancer bends the knees and straightens them again, usually with the feet turned out and heels firmly planted on the ground

 ** _relevé_ - **a movement in which a dancer rises on the tips of the toes

* * *

 

 

“You’re late.”

“By fifteen seconds at the very _most!_ And you said by even one _minute_ late I could forget it, but it hasn’t been a whole minute yet.” Hyunjin argued with him after glancing past him at the clock in the studio.

“Okay, smartass, I trust that you’re all warmed up from your leisurely swim? We should get straight to it then.” Minho turned his body so that Hyunjin could walk into the studio, “Go set your bag down in the back and bring a barre closer to the mirrors on your way back. We’ll have you caught up in no time.”

Minho didn’t miss the way the younger triumphantly smirked to himself as he turned to do as he was instructed.

-

“All your class really worked on today was how to keep control over your breathing while you dance. It’s something you’ve probably never thought about much, but once properly taught you will be able to dance for longer periods without gasping for air as if you’d just ran a marathon afterward.” Hyunjin nodded along as Minho explained, which gave the elder hope that he was actually taking the private lesson seriously.

“Okay, first position.” Minho ordered.

Hyunjin immediately straightened up, placed his right hand gracefully on the barre, and moved his feet accordingly until he was at rest in first position. Minho stood on the opposite side of the barre and mirrored Hyunjin’s stance before he gave further instruction.

“Breathe in for four counts as you go up into relevé and take in as much air as possible within those four counts. Then, breathe out when you come down into a plié using eight counts and try to let it all out by the eighth count. You’ll repeat from the plié position and rise for all eight counts back into relevé as you breath in again and so on. Understand?” Minho did his best to keep the nervous shake out of his voice as he explained. He wasn’t fully able to comprehend if what he instructed the younger to do even made much sense, but Hyunjin seemed to understand just fine. He nodded at Minho and gave him an encouraging smile, but other than that the taller boy remained quiet.

“Alright, then. I’ll give you four counts and then we’ll start together.”

Minho found it almost nerve wracking how attentive and responsive Hyunjin was to his teaching. Being nervous while teaching _anyone_ was not something he had ever experienced. From running the dance club at his old high school to teaching a children’s ballet class, he was never nervous. Minho always felt in control and at ease, he was in his element most when he was teaching… so why was teaching Hyunjin one-on-one any different from those times?

Hyunjin did the first exercise with ease, which was expected. The first week of classes were intended to refresh the brain and body on what the dancers already knew and to prepare them for the new knowledge soon to come. But it also probably helped that the younger boy was already in excellent shape and knew more about how to control his breathing than he let on.

“Okay,” Minho stopped them after six repetitions of the first exercise. “We’re going to do the same thing, but in second position. Bring your arms up when going into relevé and lower them back down into the plié.”

Minho paused for a moment, tapping his nails along the barre until Hyunjin slowly turned his head to face him and blinked expectantly as he waited for Minho to continue.

“If you find yourself doing this while warming up, try not to do more than just a few of them at a time. And take short breaks in between reps, otherwise you’ll get super dizzy.” Minho explained quickly. He knew that he tended to rush his words when he was nervous, but he hoped that Hyunjin had understood him all the same.

“Got it.” Hyunjin nodded and looked straight ahead once more.

They did the exercise together for the most part, and Minho gave more little technique tips in between reps while they gave their lungs a rest.

Around the time they started on fifth position Minho decided to continue counting out loud and moved away from the barre in favor of slowly circling around it. He took notice of things that he could not quite see from where he’d been standing at the barre beforehand; the way Hyunjin’s calves were just _that_ more prominent up on relevé, the flex of his biceps when he moved his arms accordingly to the exercise, and how his loose tank top rose up just enough to reveal a bit of his abs. Minho chastised himself for not taking the time to truly appreciate the sight that was bestowed upon him when they were on the rooftop and-

_Focus, Minho. For fuck’s sake!_

“Keep your back straight.” Minho snapped a bit harsher than he intended, the intensity of his voice aimed more so at himself than the correction. “You’re blocking precious air flow bent forward like that.” He further explained in a softer tone.

Minho laid one palm flat against Hyunjin’s back and the other on his stomach, and even in his hyper-aware state of the existence of Hyunjin’s abs, _nothing_ prepared him for when he could feel them through the thin tank top.

“Sorry, sorry!” Hyunjin apologized, but Minho could only roll his eyes. He was ready to fire back a sarcastic remark, but couldn’t find the words when Hyunjin began to plié again because he may as well have been feeling the other up through his shirt at that point. The hard outline of each of Hyunjin’s abs could be felt through the fabric and Minho instantly scolded himself for having unprofessional thoughts.

Minho moved away from him and turned his face away so that Hyunjin couldn’t see how embarrassed he was if the heat in his cheeks were anything to go by.

They moved on to spin exercises after that. Or rather, Minho instructed him on how to breathe while doing consistent turns and counted him off to do so. He found that he preferred to watch the younger rather than joining him. He gave Hyunjin encouraging nods and praised him after each set before he launched into another version, but other than the instructions, they refrained from talking and making conversation with each other.

About an hour into the lesson Minho had him caught all the way up to his class, as promised. And even though the older dancer was working him harder than necessary, Hyunjin did not show any signs of being uncomfortable with it.

Minho called time and plopped himself on the floor next to his dance bag and schooled his face to keep from showing his surprise when Hyunjin joined him after a moment. It was silent at first, save for the sound of each of them taking long swigs of water from their respective bottles, but little by little Hyunjin began to ask questions that lead into an easy conversation about the rest of their class schedules.

Minho learned that the time he had spent with Hyunjin was the younger’s only break throughout the day. It was only a couple of hours long, but it was enough for the younger to rest a bit and eat lunch before launching into an afternoon of back-to back classes.

With it being his third year at the academy, Minho’s schedule was a bit more lax than Hyunjin’s. He had the first half of the day to himself, even though he was currently spending the earliest part of his mornings in Hyunjin’s ballet class, and his afternoons were spent in class. Basically the opposite of Woojin’s schedule, whereas Chan’s was closer to something like Hyunjin’s. Woojin was doing his interning during the first semester while Chan and Minho had chose to put theirs off until the next, but the three of them made sure to find time for each other.

Their conversation eventually shifted to the topic of their favorite movies and musicals. Minho learned that Hyunjin had never actually been to see a ballet or seen a musical live in theaters since he lived more in the country and things like that mostly happened in big cities like the one the academy was located in. Instead, he watched what he could of them online when he had free time.

It was nice, Minho thought. Strange, considering that they had never talked for an extensive amount of time before, but still nice. He was about to ask if Hyunjin wanted to get lunch with him before their afternoon classes were supposed to start, but the younger boy cut him off before he could get the words out.

“I was kind of wondering, actually…” He began, voice shy and trailing off before he could finish the sentence.

“Yes?” Minho encouraged him.

“Well, remember when you were practicing in here the night of the party?” He questioned and paused to make sure Minho hadn’t forgotten.

The elder nodded, ever curious as to where Hyunjin was going with it.

“There was a certain turn sequence you did while I was watching you.” Hyunjin paused and cringed at himself. “I’m so sorry that sounds much creepier than I mean for it to. I promise I wasn’t trying to be weird or stalker-ish, but you just so happened to be practicing when I walked by, and you danced really beautifully- wait, that sounds weird too, doesn’t it? I’m so weird, oh my-”

“You’re cute.” Minho giggled, smiling softly.

“E-Excuse me?” Hyunjin blinked rapidly at his words, ears tinged pink.

“Anyway, you said something about a certain turn sequence? Do you remember how it went?” Minho raised his eyebrows in question. He certainly had not expected to leave such an impression on the younger with his dancing, but it felt nice to be complimented.

“Only bits of it. I was wondering if you could possibly teach it to me?”

Minho’s heart dropped into his stomach at Hyunjin’s tone. He found the younger absolutely adorable like that; all shy and unsure of how he was going to react to the request. Which, of course he had no problem with teaching him. He would probably do almost anything as long as it meant getting to dance with Hyunjin in any way!

“I don’t know…” Minho began, heavy sarcasm lacing his voice. “Are you sure that you’re up for it? It might be a little difficult.” He finished with a smirk to which Hyunjin rolled his eyes and answered with a smirk of his own.

“I’m more than sure that I can handle it. Besides, if you’re the one teaching it to me, what could possibly go wrong?”

“Okay. If you insist.” Minho said as he stood up and motioned for Hyunjin to follow him back to the mirrors. He plugged his phone into the sound system and went through a list of songs so that the other could point out which one the turn sequence had been from.

They spent a good twenty minutes on it. Minho would show him a few counts of the sequence without music and have Hyunjin repeat it back to him before they would both try with the music playing. They continued like that, back and forth, until he got the whole sequence down with and without the music, both of them dizzy and out of breath, but in no way ready to stop.

“One more time, okay?” Hyunjin said as he went back to start the music over. Minho only watched for the last time, standing at the opposite end of the studio where Hyunjin was to finish the sequence.

One would think that after the amount of time he’d spent watching Hyunjin dance that Minho would have grown used to it. But he found himself entranced once more as the younger dancer performed the turns he’d just taught him.

Minho was pulled in once again by his elegance and gracefulness. Hyunjin started off with a serious expression, fully concentrated on the beginning, but his features relaxed as he made his way across the floor until he was nearly done, and finished with a triumphant smile. And Minho… Minho could feel the greed creeping back into him. He wanted, no, he _needed_ Hyunjin to realize how perfect he was and how perfect _they_ could be.

“Be my dancing partner.” Minho chanced as Hyunjin came to a stop in front of him.

It wasn’t how he originally planned on asking him, but Minho figured there was no better time to ask than the present. Every second they had spent dancing together just felt so _right,_ and he knew that Hyunjin had to feel it, too. He was sure of it.

“Be.. Be your what?” Hyunjin asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“My dancing partner.” Minho repeated. He pulled on the younger’s hands as he began to sit down, deciding that sitting on the floor was a better idea for how winded he still felt from dancing the turns with Hyunjin before.

“I- I don’t know about that…” Hyunjin stuttered out. Minho watched his chest as it rose and fell rapidly before he reached over to hand him his water bottle.

“You think it’s weird because we’re both guys, huh?”

Hyunjin swallowed the long swig of water he’d just taken and shook his head quickly, “That’s not true. I used to dance with Felix all the time!”

Minho smirked at how defensive the other was getting and decided to play off what he’d said.

“Ah,” Eyebrows raised and head tilted to the side just _so,_ “So you have to get your boyfriend’s approval first in order to dance with another guy?”

“Felix is _not_ my boyfriend! We are just friends. Best friends. Practically brothers!”

Minho fought another smirk at the sudden outburst, but backtracked in order to get back into Hyunjin’s good graces so he could entertain the proposal once again.

“Alright, alright. Easy does it, Tiger. I’m just teasing you. All I’m saying is that _I’m_ really good at ballet, and it seems to be what _you_ are best at. I think we’re already a good match when it comes to partner dancing, too.”

“My _major_ is ballet. That does not mean that it is what I’m best at. I’m equally as amazing in all the other dance styles as well.” Hyunjin said in a very matter-of-factly tone.

“Same here.” Minho deadpanned. “We don’t have to only dance ballet, then.”

Minho took a moment to pretend to think before he clapped his hands together in growing excitement. “I imagine dancing hip hop with you would be so fun, and _oh my gosh,_ the ballroom dance we talked about earlier! Can we try it out right now?” He asked, feeling the real excitement shoving aside the fake one and smiling widely at the younger boy.

“But-”

“You owe me. For earlier.” Minho cut him off before Hyunjin could fully reject. He used the pool incident to his advantage, knowing that it was still a sore spot for the other and would achieve maximum guilt level. “Do this one thing for me and _then_ you can try to tell me that we aren’t a perfect match.”

He recalled Hyunjin mentioning that he knew the choreography to a waltz featured during a scene in a musical that Minho had loved ever since he could remember, and it was all the elder was able to think about during the moments when he wasn’t so entranced by Hyunjin’s dancing.

“But… it’s a waltz.” Hyunjin deadpanned.

Minho blinked at him in the brief silence between them, “Yes. But weren’t you the one who just said that you were skilled in all-”

“Fine.” Hyunjin surrendered, standing up and pulling Minho to his feet with him. “But if I drop you, it’s entirely your fault.”

“I trust you.” Minho bat his eyelashes up at the younger and stepped away to slip his shoes off, leaving him just in a thin pair of socks.

The dance, as they both very well knew, started slow and graceful. Their mirrored steps were perfectly synchronized even without music on to help guide them along. Minho took note of how perfectly Hyunjin’s hand fit into the dip of his waist and how small his own hand felt in the younger’s gentle grasp. They danced silently at first, but it wasn’t awkward due to the fact that both of them were trying to focus on the unfamiliar steps until they were more comfortable with them.

“Say that you will dance with me and I’ll allow you to ask me any question you want.” Minho finally spoke once the dance started to pick up pace.

It was a silly bargain, but the elder knew that Hyunjin was curious. What he was curious about probably ranged anywhere from why Minho decided to be nice and continue helping him to why Minho couldn’t swim. And he found himself willing to answer almost anything if it meant that Hyunjin would agree to become his dancing partner.

“Who’s to say that I want to ask you any sort of question at all?” Hyunjin asked, brows furrowed.

“Don’t you?”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

 _“Maybe.”_ Hyunjin corrected him distractedly, no doubt trying to keep up with Minho’s constant nagging while focusing on the dance.

“So you’ll dance with me?” Minho chanced again as Hyunjin spun him out of his arms and quickly caught back up to him as Minho kept up the spins. The feeling of Hyunjin’s strong hands on either side of his waist brought him back to when they’d first danced together earlier that week.

“Isn’t that what we’re already do- _AH!”_

They were a mess of arms and legs as both Hyunjin and Minho tried to brace for the fall. Minho closed his eyes tight and waited for the hit, only to open them in surprise when the hit never came. Hyunjin was awkwardly positioned over him with one of his arms pinned under Minho’s shoulder blades so that he cushioned Minho’s fall.

“I am so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you okay?” Both Hyunjin’s face and tone were full of concern while Minho was more than sure that the younger had taken most of the impact of the fall.

He’d meant to answer him and let him know that he was fine, even make a joke about having trusted Hyunjin not to drop him, but the words wouldn’t come. Minho found the younger’s stare so intense that it rendered him speechless once more. He was surprised that he could even manage a short nod, to which Hyunjin let out a breath he’d been holding in and a smile broke out across his face.

“Good. Because it is entirely your fault that I dropped you.” His voice was a near whisper, smile never faltering. Minho found it to be contagious, and felt himself smiling as he retaliated.

“Oh really, Mr ‘I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention’?” Minho mocked his shocked voice from before and only got halfway through the imitation before he began to giggle at their comical position on the floor. Hyunjin’s eyes crinkled up in a way Minho had never seen as the younger’s smile turned brilliant with his own laughter that had the elder’s heart jumping at both the sight and sound. He thought Hyunjin was beautiful in that moment, and he wanted more of it.

“Hyunjin?” A voice by the door called out and their laughter ceased immediately.

Minho followed Hyunjin’s, but he was only able to catch a glimpse of Felix from the weird angle form where he was still laying on the floor before Hyunjin hurriedly began to pull himself up. He kept his arm around Minho’s shoulders and brought he free hand to his elbow as he helped pull the elder up, as well.

Felix still stood at the door with his eyes trained on Hyunjin’s arm where it was still protectively strewn around Minho’s shoulders. Hyunjin had practically sworn he and Felix weren’t together, but Minho could practically _feel_ something akin to anger and jealousy radiating from the look Felix was giving them. Not wanting to get on the bad side of his potential dance partner’s best friend, Minho made a move to pull away from him, but Hyunjin only tightened his grasp.

“Fe- Felix. Hi. We were just finishing up a private lesson.” Hyunjin’s voice vibrated against where his chest was touching Minho’s side. He sounded cautious and much too careful to be speaking to someone whom was supposed to be his best friend.

Minho ultimately decided that he was unwelcome to stick around for whatever talk was about to happen between the two boys and promptly came up with an excuse to leave.

“I… should probably go. I just remembered that I told Channie I would meet him for lunch.” He lied as he twisted out of Hyunjin’s grasp to retrieve his shoes and dance bag.

Minho could feel the weight of both boys’ eyes focused on him as he walked past them toward the exit. He paused with his hand on the door and turned back where he was met with Hyunjin’s pleading gaze that willed him to leave. He hesitated further when his eyes locked with Felix’s piercing stare, his stomach doing flips and heart telling him something was wrong.

Still, he left, and the yelling began as soon as the door was nearly closed behind him. Curiosity got the better of the older dancer and he caught onto the handle before it could fully close and left it just barely ajar.

“Why… Why did I have to find out from _Woojin_ that you almost put your scholarship in jeopardy to go _swimming_?! Hyunjin, I knew you could be stubborn and a bit dense sometimes, but seriously? Do you know how fucking worried I’ve been all morning? I couldn’t concentrate during class because I thought something had happened to you!”

Minho caught sight of Hyunjin and thought he looked so much younger with the way he kept his eyes glued to the floor and shoulders hunched. The way Felix kept throwing questions at him reminded Minho a lot of how Woojin could be with him, and he couldn’t help but feel bad for both parties in the dance studio. It never felt good to know that you’d worried your best friend, but at the same time, Minho knew that Felix had every right to be worried.

Felix paused his yelling in favor of pushing a hand through his hair, but his eyes never left Hyunjin’s form as he waited for the taller boy to answer his questions. But Hyunjin remained silent, something Minho thought to be such a stark contrast to the younger’s usual stubborn arguing.

A wave of guilt suddenly crashed over him as he realized that he was listening in on something he probably shouldn’t, and was about to turn to leave when Felix spoke up once more.

“And this ‘private lesson’ bullshit? It sure did not look like there was anything being taught. From what I saw it was just a bunch of grab-ass, flirting, and playing around. Which, you know, seems a bit odd to me since I can’t help but remember just _last night_ you couldn’t stop complaining about how much you couldn’t stand the annoying silver-haired boy that wouldn’t quit talking to you.”

Hyunjin’s head shot up at Felix’s words and he looked toward the door as if he were making sure that Minho wasn’t still around to hear, but their eyes found each other’s in an instant.

“-and how much you wished that your instructor would find a new fill-in so that Minho would stop hanging around your class. But you didn’t seem to mind him just now. What kind of double standard shit are you playing at, Hyunjin?”

Minho’s feet moved on their own accord then. Down the hallway and out the exit to the stairwell and down the steps. He didn’t stop walking until he was back in his empty dorm room.

His head began to spin in confusion. That whole time… He wondered if Hyunjin was just being polite because he felt bad about pulling Minho into the pool, or if he was using him to get out of trouble because of the scholarship rules.

-

 _Shit. Shit. SHIT._ Hyunjin’s brain could only supply the expletives once he caught a glimpse of the older dancer outside the dance studio. Minho was _not_ supposed to still be there.

“What kind of double standard shit are you playing at, Hyunjin?”

And with that, he was gone. The small window on the door that had previously framed Minho’s shock-written face, now empty. It took everything in Hyunjin not to take off after him. And even if he did, Hyunjin wouldn’t know what to say to him. Not to mention that leaving in the middle of an argument would lead to even _more_ agonizing questions from Felix.

Right. Felix.

Hyunjin briefly shut his eyes and shook his head before he finally looked his best friend in the eyes. Felix’s were dark, and huge, and downright scary. Hyunjin could only remember seeing him like that a handful of times in his life, but never had he been the direct cause of such emotions.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Hyunjin spoke slowly and chose his words carefully. There was no use in arguing back when Felix was this angry. It would only make matters worse. “I didn’t mean to worry you earlier, that wasn’t my intention whatsoever. I was in the middle of texting you back, I promise. You can check my phone if you don’t believe me, but I must have gotten distracted before I could hit ‘send’.”

‘Distracted’ was a way to put it, Hyunjin supposed. Even though he clearly remembered being interrupted mid-text and having to go straight into the lesson that had caused this whole misunderstanding. But he didn’t dare to tell Felix such things, not when the boy was already so worked up over it.

Felix’s eyes searching his for a few silent moments, and Hyunjin figured that he must have found whatever it was he was looking for, because his bitter expression softened out into a more understanding one. And with it, Hyunjin was ready to drop everything right there and just move on. Felix seemed satisfied enough with his answer, and that was good enough for Hyunjin as long as they didn’t part ways whilst still angry with each other.

Minho’s mortified expression flashed across Hyunjin’s mind. He needed to find the older boy as soon as possible in order to explain himself.

He let out an ironic huff of laughter at his situation. It seemed that all he’d been doing up to that point was trying to explain things to people, though whether they were deserving of such explanations varied from person to person. But who knew that trying to clear his head would come back to bite him in the ass?

“What?” Felix’s confused voice brought him crashing down to reality. He’d almost forgotten that Felix was still there, watching him curiously.

“Nothing.” Hyunjin shook his head. “I just need to go find Minho right now. I think he heard what you said, and-”

“So what if he did?” The harsh tone mixed with annoyance in Felix’s voice had returned, causing Hyunjin to wince slightly. “Was it not the truth? He’s all you’ve complained about for a whole week! But the way you were looking at him just a few moments ago seemed far from annoyed. Looked like you were thoroughly enjoying yourself to me.”

“He was _helping_ me, Felix! And I was grateful!” Hyunjin almost winced at his own increase in volume. He knew that yelling was _not_ the most efficient way to get a point across, but he felt as if he’d reached a dead end in trying to explain anything to Felix at that point. “I was such an asshole to him, like you have no fucking idea how bad I messed up earlier, and he _still_ agreed to help me out! I would not have skipped class if I had known about the scholarship rules, trust me. But I did it, and I was going to have to face the consequences had he not offered a helping hand.”

Mentioning the scholarship only seemed to spark Felix’s anger even further. A smile stretched across the shorter boy’s face, one that was anything but kind or happy.

“Unbelievable.” Felix muttered. He looked around the room incredulously before settling his gaze back on Hyunjin. “So you’ll go to Minho, someone you’ve known for maybe a week, and accept any kind of help that he’s willing to give you?”

Felix was still smiling, but if the hurt in his eyes wasn’t clear enough, the absolute devastation in the shorter’s voice cut straight to Hyunjin’s heart without mercy.

“Because all fucking summer _I_ waited. You know me, right? Your best friend? I waited and worried and sacrificed any bit of free time I had when you would ask me to help with choreographing your solo. Every time you asked me to come help I thought, ‘oh, maybe today he’ll tell me what the hell is going on’. But you kept me in the dark. Hell, I’m _still_ in the dark.”

“You never even asked me-” Hyunjin began to argue, but it was useless. Felix wasn’t letting him get any words in. His dark smile was gone, replaced by an unamused eye roll paired with an exasperated sigh.

“Because I fucking trusted that you would eventually tell me, Hyunjin! We’ve always told each other everything. That’s what best friends do!”

Hyunjin saw the beginnings of tears in Felix’s eyes at the mention of them being best friends and it was then that Hyunjin realized just how badly he’d been hurting him. Confusion and pain, the emotions now clearly painted across the shorter dancer’s face as the dam holding such feelings back finally broke down.

“I-”

“Lixiiiiiiiiiieeeeee!” A shrill and familiar voice rang through the studio as Jisung and Changbin walked in. Well, Changbin walked, but Jisung practically sprinted over to where the two of them were standing and all but barreled in to Felix. The confused and hurt expression Felix previously sported was nowhere to be seen, only a huge freckled -and painfully fake- smile was plastered across his features. _Wow._

Hyunjin quickly tuned out of the conversation the three other boys jumped into and walked to the back of the studio to retrieve his bag. His phone was still sitting on top of it and still had up the unfinished text meant for Felix when he unlocked the screen. He finished typing out the late explanation and added in an extra apology before hitting send.

They never fought like this. It was scary and Hyunjin did not like it one bit, and he was willing to do whatever he could to get them back to being normal.

“Would you like to join us for lunch, Hyunjin?” Changbin’s soft voice called out to him just as Hyunjin reached the exit. Jisung and Felix finally halted their conversation and looked up long enough to notice that he was about to leave.

“Yeah, come eat with us! We hardly get to see you since your schedule is so different from ours. I think they’re having spaghetti in the cafeteria today, it’s like super yummy!” Jisung’s smile was warm and inviting and Hyunjin immediately felt bad for the harsh thing’s he’d thought about both him and Changbin in the past. They wanted to include him just as much as he’d been feeling left out, but he continued to make it difficult.

He looked to Felix to see gauge how the other might feel about the offer, but he wasn’t paying Hyunjin any attention, too engrossed in something on his phone.

“Thanks for the offer,” He gave the other two boys a grateful smile. “But I have another class, soon. I kind of spent my entire lunch break in a lesson.”

It wasn’t a lie. He really did have class soon, and after spending so much time arguing with Felix, there wasn’t any time left for him to find Minho or to eat. Both would have to wait.

“Another time, then?” Changbin questioned with a friendly smile.

“Definitely.” Hyunjin answered him, returning the smile with a nod before he left the studio.

-

Minho had been right.

Hyunjin was called into the admissions office nearing the end of his last class that day. He sat in the waiting room outside the office for nearly fifteen minutes before it was his turn to go in, and the lady began to talk as soon as he took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of her desk. She went over confidentiality procedures and then told him why he had been called into the office, exactly how Minho explained that morning. Hyunjin almost wondered _how_ the older boy knew it was going to happen.

He didn’t get the chance to wonder for too long before the lady asked for an explanation or reason as to why he missed class. Hyunjin hadn’t really thought of an excuse to use, and he couldn’t just say that he had decided to go swimming rather than attend class. That definitely wouldn’t go over well.

“I, uh, I didn’t feel very well this morning. But I did have a private lesson with one of the third years that’s been filling in during the same class! His name is Lee Minho.” Her eyebrows shot up in what Hyunjin could only assume was recognition of Minho’s name before she wrote something down on the paper in front of her.

“Did he write up an excuse for you?”

“Ah, no. I guess he forgot. I was a last minute kind of thing.” Hyunjin explained. “Could you possibly call him to confirm it?” He asked, not having any clue that he needed a written excuse from Minho to turn in. It felt like high school all over again, like when he had to bring a doctor’s note after being absent for an illness or injury.

The lady did just as he asked. But unsurprisingly, Minho did not answer the phone. He should have known better. Minho probably didn’t want anything to do with him after overhearing what Felix had said.

In the end Hyunjin was given until Monday to get an excuse slip from Minho and to the admissions office in order to avoid any further consequences. He thanked the lady and set out for the dorms to try his hand in finding Minho. He hoped that the elder would let him explain everything, and if not… Well, he didn’t want to think about ‘if not’.

“Hyunjin-ah!”

He looked up to see Chan emerging from the entrance to the dorms as Hyunjin approached them, the elder dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt.

“Ah, Ba- I mean, Chan-ssi!”

Chan smiled at his correction before shaking his head slightly.

“Just because Minho is one of the only people that calls me by my full name doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t. Just whatever you’re more comfortable with is fine. And please, call me Hyung. I think we’re a bit past any extreme formalities, eh?” The elder ruffled Hyunjin’s hair and motioned for the younger to walk with him away from the dorms. He followed with hopes that the Chan might be able to clue him in on Minho’s whereabouts.

“Speaking of Minho, have you seen him? I forgot to get an excuse slip from him after our lesson.”

“That brainless boy, he should have remembered that on his own. I can write one for you if you want?” Chan seemed sincere, and it made Hyunjin happy with how friendly he was. He might have even taken him up on the offer if he didn’t desperately need to fix things with Minho, already.

“No, that’s alright. I have something I need to ask him as well.”

“Well, I saw him right after he got out of his last class. I was going to see if he wanted to get dinner together, but he said he wasn’t feeling well and went back to his room. He’s probably taking a nap now. When do you need the note by?”

Not feeling well? Hyunjin figured that was definitely his doing.

“Monday.”

“I’ll let him know, then. That you need the excuse _and_ wanted to ask him something. But for now, join me?” Chan stopped walking and nodded toward the dining hall.

“Sure.” Hyunjin supposed dinner couldn’t hurt.

Dinner with Chan was refreshing to say the least. They talked of nothing other than dance and how either of them got into it in the first place. Chan went on to talk about his internship and how this week he’d taught a few toddler ballet classes for it. He was passionate about everything he did, and Hyunjin was envious. He could only hope that he was still as passionate toward his goal after three years of the extensive training. He didn’t want to be one of those people who found out a couple years in that it just wasn’t for them, and he really didn’t have anything else to fall back on.

After dinner was over and the two dancers parted ways, Hyunjin spent the rest of his evening holed up in a practice room. He went over the breathing exercises a few times and then the turn sequence that Minho taught him until he had it down perfectly.

It had been nice, really, to be able to take his mind off of everything that had happened that day over a simple dinner. Unfortunately, everything came back what felt like ten fold once he was alone with his thoughts in the too quiet dance studio. Hyunjin turned the volume dial up on the sound system and lost himself in dancing for a few hours to combat the stupid thoughts that relentlessly plagued his mind.

-

Their dorm room was dark and silent when Hyunjin finally made it back. It was just after 11PM, and from the light of his phone screen he could just make out Felix’s figure in his bed and facing the wall. Not wanting to disturb Felix’s slumber, Hyunjin quickly gave up the thought of being able to talk with the other for the night. Instead, he quietly moved around the room to grab a clean pair of clothes and towels before heading to the bathroom to take a short shower. He used the light from his phone to find his way around the room once he was done showering and made it to his bed without any trouble.

Practicing for so long had worn him out and effectively silenced any unwanted thoughts which made it easy for him to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

 

* * *

 

a/n: the waltz they did in the studio was from anastasia, the part that hyunjin twirls minho out is when she would switch from guy to guy in the clip. thread of dances: [here](https://twitter.com/lovelyjjix/status/1106770465002057728?s=20).

 

I forgot to link this in the last chapter, but one of my favorite people did a fanart for Jisung dancing to Talk Dirty in CH 3~! You can give it all the love it deserves: [HERE](https://twitter.com/seungshine_of_9/status/1108399112481693697?s=20)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix
> 
> Comments and kudos are much appreciated, and holy COW we're almost to 1k hits thank YOU!


	7. Two Steps Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Personally,” Seungmin continued after swallowing a large gulp of his peach flavored sparkling water. “I think the two of you are destined to dance together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: Descriptions of drowning at the beginning, homophobia toward the end. Hyunjin's parents are not likable people here, and neither is Jaemin. (Don't worry, I love Nana with my whole heart and have my reasons for making him the _bad guy_.)

**Minho ‒ Saturday Morning**

 

_ It was cold. _

_ Way too fucking cold. _

_ Minho, in his sleep-drunk state, began to wonder if Woojin might have had some sort of hot flash during the night that caused him to turn the air conditioning down to some insane temperature. He could feel warmer rays of sun coming through the window against his closed eyelids, but he figured that it couldn’t be any later than 9AM. _

_ He groaned out a complaint about feeling as if he was trying to sleep inside an igloo as he moved to pull the blankets up over his shoulders. Only, there were no covers. Instead, his hands were met with a freezing wet substance. _

_ Minho opened his eyes and sat up quickly to take in his surroundings. _

_ It  _ was  _ morning, that much he had been right about. _

_ The early morning sun rays were unforgiving against his sensitive eyes, making him wish he had sunglasses. The wet substance, he now realized, was snow. _

_ Looking around Minho realized he was in a clearing that was completely surrounded by gigantic pine trees that went on for miles and miles that weren’t there only seconds ago. His breath left his lips in visible white puffs hat made intricate patterns in front of his face, momentarily distracting him from the cold when he focused on them. He was dressed in the same sweats and t-shirt he’d gone to bed in the night before, but they felt miraculously dry despite having laid in the snow for God knows how long. _

_ He slowly attempted to stand up, but found it difficult to find his footing when the ground was constantly slipping out from under him. He struggled for what couldn’t have been more than a minute before he was finally able to stand upright without falling over, but in that small amount of time it had grown dark outside. _

_ The moon was the only source of light, but it was enough for him to see the trees vanishing into thin air when he looked at them. The snow began melting away, briefly pooling around Minho’s ankles before it was swallowed up by an invisible drain in the ground. The ground below him faded into nothing until he was left standing on a transparent sheet of ice that separated him from the murky waters beneath it. _

_ Minho blinked once and felt instant regret, choking on a gasp at the sight before him. _

_ A figure stared back at him from the other side of the ice ‒ a boy ‒ with ghostly pale skin and full lips that were tinged with blue. _

_ Hyunjin. _

_ The boy began to sink the moment Minho’s mind registered who he was. _

_ “NO! Hyunjin!” Minho’s voice sounded as if he was yelling from a far distance away from himself, but the pounding of his heart was loud and clear in his ears. Tears began to blur his vision with the realization of how helpless he was in the situation; there was no way for him to save Hyunjin. No way for Minho to see those beautiful eyes smiling back at him, again. _

_ Minho took a step forward and cringed when the ice groaned beneath his feet. He prayed that it was thick enough to support his weight. Another step brought a sickening cracking noise that made Minho realized that he probably wasn’t going to be so lucky. The noises continued with every slow step until an array of jagged cracks spread across the ice around his feet. _

_ Minho gulped and began to take deep breaths. He knew that he wasn’t going to be getting out of there without falling into the water first. The least he could do was try and mentally prepare himself for the swim through the gelid lake. _

_ He remembered one teeny tiny detail as the ice began to break apart around his bare toes. A detail that would end up making all the difference in such a situation. _

_ No, it wasn’t until Minho felt the rickety support of the ice begin to give way from under him that he remembered that deciding factor between life and death. _

_ “I can’t swim.” he whispered calmly before he dropped into the frigid lake. _

_ The water was indescribably cold. _

_ The initial shock of the temperature was almost painful. Minho thought he could prepare himself for how cold it was going to be, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. _

_ He tried to remain calm, but he began to panic when he started to feel the lower half of his body going numb; the prickling sensation began in his toes and climbed its way up. Minho clawed at the fragments of ice floating around him to keep his head above the water, but the pieces kept breaking up as soon has his hands touched them, and soon enough there was nothing to keep him afloat. _

_ Struggling only made it worse, and his lungs screamed at him with each desperate breath he took as he sank deeper and deeper, forgetting to take one last breath before he was completely submerged. _

  
  


‒‒‒‒ 

 

_ “Minho… Minho, wake up!” _

 

Minho forced his eyes open at the distressed voice and found himself in a tangled mess of sheets and sweat while his heartbeat thundered loud and fast in his ears. It took several long moments for him to calm his racing heart and realize that he was  _ not  _ back in that same forest from all those years ago. He was at school, safe in his dorm room with a worried best friend hovering over him.

 

Woojin pulled him into a sitting position once he realized that Minho was awake, and the younger was just vaguely aware of Woojin’s thumbs wiping away the tears as they rolled down Minho’s cheeks. He figured he must have started crying in his sleep and began to wonder if he’d also yelled out in his sleep.

 

“It’s okay. You’re okay, I promise. You were just having a dream.” Woojin mumbled softly into Minho’s hair, his hand rubbing comforting circles into his back.

 

Just a dream? Minho begged to differ. What he experienced was more like a cross between a nightmare and some sick twist of a flashback. But it felt so real, except for…

 

“Hyunjin!” Minho gasped out the name as the images of the younger dancer’s frozen body beneath the ice flashed through his mind.

 

“What? What about him?” Woojin pulled away to study Minho’s face as fresh tears began to cloud his vision.

 

If it was all just a dream, then why the hell was it having such an effect on Minho’s emotions?

 

“Is he okay?” Minho hated the way his voice broke. “I mean, in the dream he… I’m just worried.” He trailed off.

 

Dreams were weird to Minho in that they could be so scary and sometimes accurate as to what might happen in real life.

 

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Woojin comforted him while he rubbed his hand over Minho’s knee. “I was with him just last night. He seemed a little distracted while we were talking, but I don’t think it was anything for you to be worried about. Do you want to talk about your dream? Was it the same as last time?”

 

Minho looked away and slowly shook his head without bothering to specify which question he was answering. He knew that Woojin knew him well enough to know it meant that Minho did  _ not  _ want to talk about the dream, but  _ yes,  _ it was the same dream as the last time and all of the times before it.

 

It had been over ten years since the incident, but the nightmares never stopped. And there was no doubt in Minho’s mind that falling into the pool was the trigger this time.

 

“Wait, you were with Hyunjin? Why?” Minho asked suddenly. He doubted that Hyunjin would bring up everything that happened after their private lesson the day before, but he was still curious as to why the two of them were together and what they talked about.

 

“Because  _ someone said  _ they didn’t feel well enough to eat dinner with me and I happened to run into him on my way to the dining hall. Though,” Woojin paused and let out a huff of laughter with a small smile playing on his lips that didn’t fade even as he resumed talking. “I think we probably spent more time talking than actually doing any eating. Hyunjin… he’s a good kid. Very passionate. And I think he’ll be just fine after a bit of adjusting, it’ll just take some time.”

 

“Did he say anything about me?” Minho internally winced at how conceited he sounded, and he could tell that Woojin was thinking the same thing by how his warm smile instantly fell away with a sigh. Minho briefly wondered how the other would react if he knew why he was asking. But he could never tell him why, not when Woojin already seemed to like the kid so much.

 

It wasn’t easy for Woojin to like just anyone. Even  _ Minho  _ had to basically force himself into his life since Woojin didn’t seem too keen on being friends with anyone at the time. Minho couldn’t blame him, though.

 

Minho was the weird, overly-excited new kid that talked a lot and tried to make friends with everyone as fast as he could, only to find out that it was going to be a challenge when it came to the shy kid who never spoke other than when he was picked to read aloud in class. Minho was drawn to him then, only being about six years old at the time, he didn’t understand how a person so strikingly different from himself could actually exist! But Minho found it most interesting when Woojin was seen sitting with a boy from another class during their recess and lunch times. Those were the times that Minho saw the usually quiet boy come to life with strong facial expressions while he talked to his friend. But it seemed as though the other boy was his only friend.

 

Woojin’s reluctance to accept Minho’s friendship only made him work harder for it, and eventually, when Woojin finally warmed up to him and introduced him to his other friend, Chan, the three of them became nearly inseparable. It’s stayed that way for nearly fourteen years now, and Minho still isn’t used to how different his and Woojin’s personalities can be, but they balance each other out nicely. 

 

“He said you forgot to give him an excuse slip after your private lesson and now he hates your guts and never wants to see you again.” Woojin deadpanned with the most solemn look Minho had ever seen on his face. “Oh my god, Minho I’m joking! By the look on your face you would have thought that I just told you that they canceled America’s Next Top Model.”

 

“Yah! Don’t even joke about something like that!” Minho shouted as best as he could and hit Woojin on the arm with a pillow. He noted how hoarse his voice had gone from crying. “Oh shit, the excuse slip! I’m such an idiot… Is that all he said?”

 

“Well, I actually offered to write up a slip for him, but he wanted to go to you personally. He said he as a question to ask you or something. I told him I would convey all of this to you, so I guess mission accomplished on my part.” Woojin finished with a few pats on Minho’s thigh before he pushed himself up from the bed.

 

A question? What could Hyunjin possibly want to ask Minho- wait. Minho’s mind was moments away from having a meltdown when he remembered telling the younger dancer that he would let Hyunjin ask him any question of his choosing if he agreed to be Minho’s dancing partner. Maybe he was indirectly hinting at that?

 

Minho felt his excitement begin to fade when he remembered the words he wasn’t supposed to hear replay over and over in his head. Then again, maybe Hyunjin wanted to explain and try to apologize to him. Even so, Minho wasn’t sure if he was ready to listen to it.

 

**°°°**

On average, the walk from the dorms to the admissions office only took about three to four minutes, but Minho was determined to take as long as possible to get there. He purposefully took the stairs down from the third floor of the dormitory building rather than the elevator, walked through the paved pathways through the courtyard instead of cutting across the grass, and even stopped to pick up someone’s discarded trash and throw it into the nearest trash bin in order to stall.

 

“I came by to drop off the slip I forgot to give to Hwang Hyunjin yesterday. I tried to find him earlier, but he must be off campus for the day.” Minho lied.

 

“I saw that I had a missed call from one of the school numbers yesterday as well, but I was in class at the time.” He lied again. The call had come while he was laying in bed and trying to ignore all of Chan’s prying questions. Chan backed off when he mentioned not feeling well‒ 

 

“Ah, yes. Thanks for bringing it in then, Minho. Poor boy looked so distressed when I mentioned it yesterday.” Minho had intended to turn and leave after handing her the slip, but she began to ask a question before he could. “By the way, was that your parents I saw with you at the end of the showcase last year? Are they…?”

 

“Yes, they decided to come when they found out that I had solos and that I had helped choreograph a few of the dances. I was just as surprised when they showed up, but in a good way of course. They never mentioned they were coming after I sent the invitation…” Minho trailed off while trying to find the right words. “I think they understand my heart a little better these days and they realize this is something I’m rather passionate about.” He finished with a small smile.

 

“That’s great! I’m very happy for you, Minho.” Ms Lee beamed. Having dealt with Minho a lot over the past couple of years, he could tell that she’d grown to care and worry a lot for him. It felt nice being able to ease some of her worry now.

 

“You know, we have another student who is currently facing the same kind of situation that you went through.” Her smile stayed in place, but her eyes looked sad. It made Minho wonder which student she was referring to, but he knew better than to ask. There were countless rules when it came to a student’s confidentiality, and so even vaguely mentioning another student at all with Minho present was pushing it. “I hope their parents will become more accepting of their choices like yours did… In due time.”

 

Minho hummed in agreement and said his goodbyes shortly after before he set out for the dining hall. His stomach had growled loudly while he was in the admissions office, reminding him that he’d yet to eat anything and it was already nearing one in the afternoon.

 

**Hyunjin ‒ Saturday**

 

Felix was nowhere to be seen when Hyunjin woke up the next morning. Granted, it wasn’t quite morning anymore when he finally rolled out of bed. He wanted to slap himself in the face for sleeping until almost one in the afternoon, but it was probably for the best after finishing up such a strenuous first week of classes. Still, he knew there was no excuse to lay about and waste what was left of his day. There was still the whole excuse slip problem to figure out, and more importantly, explaining to Minho that what he heard when he fought with Felix wasn’t exactly the truth.

 

Hyunjin stared up at the ceiling and sighed. All of the misunderstandings he found himself drowning in could have been avoided had he chose to tell Felix the truth from the very beginning. Technically he hadn’t told any lies, but he definitely had withheld some information that needed to be said in the end.

 

“Okay,” he said decidedly in the empty dorm room. “I suppose I can’t keep this bottled up any longer.”

 

Hyunjin contemplated whether or not he should change out of his pajamas, not that it would really matter what he wore. He’d already vowed to not go near a rehearsal studio for at  _ least  _ twenty-four hours in order to let his body rest after such an intense practice session the night before.

 

He ended up opting for a comfortable pair of jeans in place of his flannel pajama pants in the end, but kept the same loose t-shirt on. A quick trip to the bathroom had him deciding that a beanie would be his best bet when it came to keeping his hair looking slightly tame for the small amount of time he planned to be away from his dorm room.

 

Hyunjin’s stomach grumbled lowly as he was finishing lacing up his worn pair of Converse tennis shoes.

 

“Right. Food first.” He mumbled to himself after he grabbed his phone and wallet from where they’d been discarded on his desk and set out for the dining hall.

 

Said hall ended up being relatively empty, which was to be expected during the weekend since most students chose to leave campus at any given chance. It wasn’t that the food in the dining hall was terrible, in fact, Hyunjin found it to be quite nice, but it definitely wasn’t on the same level as some of the restaurants in the city or home cooking if one lived close enough.

 

Hyunjin handed his student ID to the staff worker at the entrance and bounced on his feet while he waited for his card to be approved, making a bee-line toward the station that served all kinds of noodle dishes as soon as the card and a receipt were handed back to him. He scrunched his nose at the heavy smell of tomato sauce as he moved past the self-serve area that had a few ready-made choices of spaghetti, penne or shell pasta noodles and just as many sauces to mix or match with them. There was a wire rack off to the side that was stocked with various packages of instant noodles that Hyunjin had quickly become familiar with during breakfast, lunch  _ and  _ dinner throughout his first week. It almost felt like an act of deviance each time he made them; his parents never allowed cheap junk food in their house, and it wasn’t until Hyunjin met Felix that he even knew such glorious foods existed!

 

He busied himself with making two packages of instant noodles, not very keen on the idea of getting lost in thoughts about his parents and Felix so soon after waking up. Hyunjin needed to figure out how he was going to explain things to Minho, and he’d yet to give the older boy an answer about whether or not he would be his dancing partner. That was, if the offer was still any good. Hyunjin had his doubts after all the things he knew Minho had heard Felix say.

 

He sighed to himself and rubbed circles over his temples in an attempt to block the headache he could feel coming on.

 

_ You really got yourself into a mess this time, Hyunjin. _

 

“Yeah, no kidding.” Hyunjin said to himself, staring blankly at his bowls of noodles while he waited for them to finish cooking and earning himself a judgmental glance from the worker behind the noodle counter. He gave the worker a small bow and grabbed his food with the decision to let it finish cooking at his table. He already had a target on his back in the school, the last thing he needed were rumors going around that he was also batshit insane because he  _ occasionally  _ talked to himself.

 

“Yo! Hyunjin!” His hopes of grabbing a bite to eat and leaving in peace were disrupted when a familiar voice called out to him from across the entire dining hall.

 

The few students that occupied the tables looked up from their meals to find the source of the voice and Hyunjin let his gaze follow theirs. He rolled his eyes when they landed on the owner of the voice and made his way past all of the barely occupied tables to where Seungmin was.

 

“Hey, traitor.” Hyunjin greeted him with a smile.

 

Seungmin feigned offense with by dramatically slapping a hand over his heart and contorted his face in such a way that looked less than attractive as Hyunjin situated himself into the seat across from him. Seungmin raise a particularly judgmental eyebrow at Hyunjin’s less-than-healthy food choices, no doubt wanting to make yet  _ another  _ comment about his bad eating habits. He must have figured that if his opinion hadn’t caused Hyunjin to rethink the way he chose to eat by now, then there was no use in trying anymore.

 

“Oh please, Hyunjin. Don’t even try to act as if you don’t enjoy every second you spend dancing with that Minho guy.” Seungmin remarked through a mouthful of some sort of healthy spinach wrap.

 

Hyunjin made face of disgust at the other boy. His food choices may be poor, but at least his table manners made up for it.

 

“Personally,” Seungmin continued after swallowing a large gulp of his peach flavored sparkling water. “I think the two of you are destined to dance together.”

 

Hyunjin’s face of disgust morphed into one of horror at Seungmin’s implications.

 

“Don’t look at me like that! You should have seen how fucking good you two looked together on the first day of class. And you guys had literally  _ just  _ met. I know I came off as an asshole after volunteering you, but I think it was for the best.”

 

“You also think that Na Jaemin is a nice person.” Hyunjin sighed distractedly.

 

Of course Hyunjin realized how well he and Minho danced together, he would be an idiot  _ not  _ to have noticed that much. And it wasn’t like Hyunjin was necessarily tired of the other students and even their teacher pointing it out, he just wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it, yet.

 

“Jaemin will come around, don’t worry. He’s just butthurt about the scholarship still. The kid grew up getting everything he wanted, but didn’t all of us grow up that way?”

 

Hyunjin was only half listening as Seungmin defended his asshat of a roommate. The other half of his attention was currently and completely focused on the slender boy he spotted standing in front of the display of pre-made salad lunches. Hyunjin couldn’t remember a time when he’d seen Minho dressed in something other than dance clothes, now being no exception. He figured the older boy must have been down to grab something quick to eat before he headed to practice.

 

“Mhmm,” He answered Seungmin without looking away from Minho’s form. “Maybe that’s why it hurt so much when my parents practically disowned me when I chose to pursue dance as a career path.” Hyunjin sucked in a deep breath. Admitting his secret wasn’t as hard as he’d imagined it would be. He also never imagined Seungmin, of all people, would be the first person he told, either. The two of them weren’t exactly close yet, and Hyunjin had no idea if it was something the other would go and share with the other students behind his back. He hoped not.

 

Hyunjin wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he expected from Seungmin, but it definitely wasn’t silence since the boy always seemed to have  _ something  _ to say.

 

He glanced at him long enough to see the realization spreading across Seungmin’s features before Hyunjin stood from his chair to leave. He needed to tell Minho and there was no guarantee that he would be brave enough to do it later on. Better to get it over with while the courage was still fresh.

 

“Wait, Hyunjin, hold on. They  _ what?!”  _ Seungmin practically yelled. His voice broke through the strained silence and brought unwanted attention to their table once again, Minho being no exception.

 

Hyunjin held his breath as he watched Minho turn away from a selection of bottled drinks, not missing the way the elder’s eyes widened in surprise once he spotted Hyunjin.

 

Time stopped for a moment when neither of them looked away from the other until a voice from somewhere in the dining hall caused Minho to break off his stare. He grabbed a water from the drink selection and hastily made his way toward the exit and to ‒ Hyunjin assumed ‒ whoever the other voice belonged to.

 

“I have to go.” Hyunjin muttered barely loud enough for Seungmin to hear. His eyes followed Minho until he was no longer in sight.

 

“Hyunjin, hold on a second. What do you mean? Your parents just‒”

 

“It’s like I said. Anyway, I need to go. I have a date with destiny, or some corny shit you would probably say in this sort of situation. Text me about our group dance assignment later, okay?” Hyunjin would have to remember to explain things a bit better to Seungmin on a later date. Just not  _ now.  _

 

He didn’t stick around to hear Seungmin’s reply, immediately taking off toward the exit Minho had just left through.

 

His steps began to feel a little too slow once he was halfway across the dining hall. His heart started racing at some point, as if it could sense his small window of opportunity closing with the longer it took for him to reach the dining hall exit. He was at a near jog when he finally rounded the corner, only to come to a complete stop when his heart fell to the pit of his stomach.

 

Minho was there, only a few meters away from the exit, facing away from Hyunjin in a relaxed position with his left side pressed against the wall with what couldn’t have been more than a foot’s length of space separating him and… Jaemin?

 

Hyunjin could feel himself bristling at the sight.

 

Part of him wanted to walk up to the pair and drag Minho away without a word until they were somewhere the both of them could talk without being interrupted.

 

Jaemin took a step closer to Minho.

 

Part of Hyunjin wanted to turn right around and pretend that what he was seeing wasn’t what was actually happening.

 

Jaemin placed a hand on Minho’s shoulder.

 

Part of Hyunjin wanted to  _ scream  _ at Minho for even allowing Jaemin to touch him at all. But Minho didn’t take a step back or make any sort of move to show that he was uncomfortable with Jaemin’s advances.

 

Yes, every fiber of Hyunjin’s being screamed at him to do any one of those things. It felt as if there was a constant war between all of these strange emotions going on inside of his head, but there was a voice louder than all of them that fought back just as hard.

 

It was obvious to Hyunjin that Minho had no interest in the two of them talking any time soon, the elder dancer had made that much clear when he walked out of the dining hall even after seeing Hyunjin. And Hyunjin had no idea what kind of relationship was going on between Minho and Jaemin, or if there  _ was  _ any sort of relationship to be had. But Hyunjin wasn’t going to risk being the root of yet  _ another  _ misunderstand by marching up to them and creating a scene just because of some weird feeling of jealousy and annoyance that radiated throughout his body at the mere sight of  _ Jaemin. _

 

It could have been anyone, but the fact that it was that brat made everything fucking worse.

 

Minho’s tinkling laughter broke Hyunjin out of his confused daze and he strained his ears to try and hear the conversation the two were having. Hyunjin took a step closer, the movement,  _ of course,  _ not going unnoticed by Jaemin and his wandering eyes. Hyunjin balled his hands into fists at his sides when Jaemin’s lips stretched into the same god-awful haughty smile he had on the first day of classes before he looked back Minho, who still seemed oblivious to everything.

 

Hyunjin could swear that Jaemin was making it a goal to make sure that his presence was left unknown to Minho once he’d noticed Hyunjin watching them. He initiated skinship with Minho in almost every way possible, and that was  _ after  _ he got all up in Minho’s personal space while talking with him.

 

Hyunjin closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to both calm and prepare himself to walk up to them and attempt to be as civil as possible. Jaemin didn’t need to know that something had happened between Minho and himself. Jaemin didn’t need to be involved in their misunderstanding in any way, and Hyunjin knew if Jaemin found out, then the whole student body may as well have been present when the whole ordeal had gone down. Hyunjin knew that he needed to do  _ something _ , but upon opening his eyes it became apparent that he wasn’t going to get the chance.

 

His legs gave out from under him and he sank ‒ none too gracefully ‒ to the floor and watched as Jaemin steered Minho down another corridor with his arm wrapped securely around Hyunjin’s potential dance partner’s shoulders.

 

**Felix ‒ Saturday**

 

Felix held his overnight bag closer to his chest as yet another passenger squeezed their way past him in order to make it off the bus.

 

Felix scolded himself on the inside. He should have known better than to take a bus so close to lunch time when he knew it was one of the major rush hours throughout the day. But he was tired of waiting around.

 

Hyunjin may have thought that keeping him in the dark about his life was the only way to keep Felix from constantly worrying about him, but it was quite the opposite. In doing so, Hyunjin had only caused the younger dancer to worry even more. If whatever Hyunjin was going through was something he felt would be bothersome to Felix, then Felix knew that it had to be ten times worse going through it alone. And he couldn’t just stand there and act like he was okay with watching his best friend crash and burn anymore.

 

However, Felix began to rethink his spontaneous decision to go home for the weekend when he realized that no one was going to be at the bus station to drive him the rest of the way to his house. But he had already traveled so far and spent all that money on train tickets earlier that morning. Spending a little more on a taxi ride wouldn’t hurt.

 

Felix felt like he waited for ages as he attempted to hail down every single taxi that passed by. One or two of them drove by every five minutes, causing him to rush to the curb from where he was sitting on a bench and flailed his arms about like an idiot. Most of the times resulted in strange looks from the taxi drivers and their passengers until finally ‒ thirty minutes of up and down flailing later ‒ one did stop. Felix was practically drenched in sweat and his phone battery was dangerously low, so he was more than ecstatic to finally be able to rest in a nice air-conditioned car and let his phone charge for a while. But as his luck would have it: the car’s air conditioning was broken, it smelled like stale cigarette smoke mixed with feet,  _ and  _ the driver didn’t carry any change on him and all Felix had with him was cash.

 

It took nearly half an hour to reach his neighborhood, and then another ten minutes down the same road due to the fact that the driver insisted on driving 10kph in order to ogle at all of the nice estates that lead up to Felix’s family home at the dead end of the road.

 

The driver whistled in awe as he pulled up to the curb, “This one yours?” He asked Felix with a skeptical glance at the young dancer in the back seat.

 

Felix nodded and began to pull a few bills from his wallet. He wondered if the taxi driver had ever gone to Hyunjin’s neighborhood, but even if he had, he wouldn’t have been able to see any of the actual houses from how far away they were from the main gates.

 

He thanked the taxi driver as he exited the cab to which the other returned with an over-joyous ‘No, thank you!’ after Felix told him not to worry about the change for his travel fare. At least one of them was having a good day.

 

Felix knew it probably seemed silly to ring the doorbell at his own house, but since he was arriving unannounced it would probably startle his family if he just walked right in.

 

“Noonaaaaaa!” He whined, pulling his second eldest sister into a bone crushing hug as soon as she opened the front door for him. It’d only been a week since Felix last saw her, but that was already a week longer than he was used to going without seeing any of his immediate family members.

 

“Lixie!” She stepped back from the hug and brought her hands to his face and Felix braced for the inevitable cheek-pinching, only mildly complaining at the familiar gesture. “What are you doing here? I mean I’m happy to see you, but it’s only been a week!”

 

“I’m uh, here on business. Noona, what do I dooooooo?” Felix asked rather pathetically before letting his forehead fall onto her shoulder dramatically.

 

Truthfully, he was relieved that his second eldest sister had been the one who answered the door. Had it been his mom or any of the others, Felix might have gone crazy right then and there! But he was in luck to see that it was someone he knew he could tell anything to. He figured that the rest of his family members were either at work or in school, so he wasted no time before breaking down right on the front doorstep.

 

His sister dragged him through the front of the house and into the kitchen to start on lunch for the both of them while she gave him the run-down on everything that had happened at home throughout the last week. His eldest noona was back at university to finish up her latest degree; this time she wanted to go for nursing! Felix had long since given up on trying to keep up with all of her spontaneous career decisions over the years. Their mom had mentioned that she wanted some new exotic animal as a pet, and their dad was apparently going to put his foot down this time by trying to bribe her with an expensive hybrid puppy instead.

 

Felix was only half listening by the time his sister began to talk about what was going on with their neighbors, the other half of his attention currently set on the text message that Hyunjin had sent him the day before after their fight.

 

**[11:53AM] Hyunjinnie: holy crap i’m so sorry! i’m fine, i hope you ddin’t worry too much :( i’ll explain everything later tonight but i’m about to head into a private lesson (to make up for missing calss this morning, bc yes, i AM stupid enough to skip. very stupid. beyond stupid.)** **  
** **-ps i’m sorry i caused a misunderstanding. i still want to explain this to you later if you’ll let me okay? i promise i will explain… everything.**

 

“Okay,” His sister’s loud voice broke him away from his phone. “That’s the tenth sigh I’ve heard within the past five minutes. You must have come here to talk. So… talk. What’s troubling you so much that you came all this way?” Felix hated how easily she’d seen right through him.

 

“I’m an idiot.” Felix sighed and stared back down at the text. Idiot seemed to be putting it lightly, really. He’d let out all of his pent up anger, jealousy and frustration on Hyunjin to the point that the other boy had looked downright terrified of Felix, and it made him feel absolutely terrible.

 

“Okay, and the sky is blue. Lix, what’s going on?”

 

Felix broke down for the second time within the hour as he began to explain everything that happened between Hyunjin and himself over the past week.

 

“Wait,” she stopped him near the end of his story. “You told me you were over Hyunjin after he turned you down in‒ what was it? Your second year of high school?”

 

“I honestly thought I was.” Felix sighed. “God, I feel so awful though. I don’t even hate this Minho guy at all, it’s just the fact that Hyunjin seemed to warm up to him so easily. And,” he paused to scoff, though it sounded a bit more pathetic than he intended thanks to his never-ending flow of tears.

 

“Y-You should have seen the way they looked at each other. Hyunjin’s never looked at me like that. Never seen me as anything more than a friend… Hell, I’ve got it worse than friend-zoned, I’m fucking ‘bro-zoned’.” Felix spat out bitterly. Hyunjin was never one to forego telling Felix how grateful he was to have him around, but he usually said things such as being glad to finally have a brotherly figure after growing up with only a sister. Of course, words like ‘brother’ and ‘family’ weren’t necessarily emphasized until  _ after  _ Felix confessed to him.

 

“Oh, Lixie…” His sister moved to lay one of her hands on top of his, but Felix wasn’t there for sympathy. He certainly didn’t think he deserved the sympathy, either.

 

He pulled his hand out of her grasp and stood from his seat to pace around the kitchen.

 

“I shouldn’t even be mad at him. It’s not like he ever gave me any sort of false hope. He made his point back then and he’s stuck to it ever since. What worries me now is our fight… I’ve never gone off on Hyunjin like that before, and it really scares me how I couldn’t stop myself once I’d started.” Felix stopped his pacing and stared at his raised hands. “Who knows what else I could have said if we hadn’t been interrupted. God, he just  _ had  _ to bring up the stupid scholarship thing…”

 

“Lix…” There was a hint of warning in her tone and disappointment in the way she looked at Felix. “You, of all people, know how hard Hyunjinnie worked to get that scholarship.”

 

Felix sighed heavily. “Of course I do. I practically helped him get it! It’s just… He could have at least told me  _ why  _ he wanted it so bad. I know I deserve an explanation after all I’ve done to help, but have I gotten one? No.”

 

“He never told you why? Really?” If the tone in her voice didn’t give away that she knew something Felix didn’t, then her nervous fidgeting and timid glances around the kitchen sure did.

 

“No… He didn’t.” Felix took a step closer to the counter his sister was seated at and spoke slowly in order to study her reaction. “Noona… what’s going on? What do you know that I don’t?”

 

“I honestly thought you already knew, Lix. I just assumed that Hyunjin had told you everything and somehow convinced you not to‒”

 

“What are you talking about?” Felix demanded, though it was beyond him as to how she would know something about Hyunjin that  _ he  _ didn’t already know.

 

“Well, earlier this week Mom mentioned wanting to make a care package to send to you boys, but she wasn’t sure what to include for Hyunjin… That’s when she went over to his house to talk with Mrs Hwang and see if she wanted to help out, but… Hyunjin’s parents, they…” Felix’s sister avoided his gaze. “Felix, they pulled their support and have no intention of having anything to do with him so long as he continues to choose dance as his career path.”

 

“They  _ what?!” _

 

**°°°**

Felix’s heart raced uncontrollably as he raised his hand to punch in the key code that was  _ supposed  _ to open the front gate to Hyunjin’s house. What he didn’t expect was to be met with the angry beeping sound that emitted from the small speaker below the keypad signaling that he’d punched in the wrong numbers. In all of the years he’d been friends with Hyunjin the code had never been changed. They wouldn’t… Hyunjin’s parents wouldn’t purposefully change the code on him. Surely not.

 

“Felix-ssi?”

 

Felix jumped at the voice that came from the same small speaker and remembered the cameras that were installed by the gates a few years back. He then whirled around to face one of the cameras and waved at who he assumed was one of the house keepers watching the camera feed from inside. Seconds later he was greeted with a much more pleasant beeping noise before the gates slowly began to open up. He quickly picked up his bike from where it lay forgotten on the ground, not sparing any time as he sped down the long driveway toward the house.

 

He didn’t even have the chance to ring the doorbell when he finally reached the front doors, one of them swinging open just as he brought his hand up and revealing a rather scary looking Mrs Hwang.

 

“Felix? What business do you have here?” Her tone matched her intimidating expression.

 

“Mrs Hwang,” Felix bowed politely, but his nails dug into his palms at how annoyed she sounded about his unannounced visit.

 

He’d known Hyunjin’s family for over half of his life and they’d never been anything but kind and warm-hearted to him, but there was definitely something off. The overall feel of the house had grown cold, nothing like the last time Felix visited ‒ the day before Hyunjin’s audition. But the biggest change was the lack of the gigantic family portrait that was always on display in the front foyer.

 

“I, um… I forgot one of my CDs here, in the studio, when I was helping Hyunjin before his audi‒”

 

“I’m sorry, but it’s probably been disposed of since then.” Hyunjin’s mother said shortly and motioned for Felix to follow her further into the foyer where her purse was sitting on an end table.

 

“What do you m‒”

 

“Here’s some money for new CDs. Do you know if you left anything else of yours before school started?”

 

Felix frowned. “I’m sure there’s plenty of things that have gotten mixed in with Hyunjin’s over time. But Mrs Hwang, why would any of it have been thrown away?”

 

“We assumed hat anything he chose to leave behind must not have been of any further use to him and decided to throw it out. Now, how much do you think you’ll need to cover the stuff that was yours? I could just load a card for you and‒”

 

“Mrs Hwang.” Felix cut her off. His hands were balled into fists and glued to his sides in an attempt to keep them from shaking with how much anger currently radiated through his body. “Did you… Did you tell Hyunjin that you would be getting rid of his things before he left?”

 

“His father and I made if perfectly clear that we would have nothing to do with him if he chose to continue with dance against our wishes.” She stated simply as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

 

Felix took a short moment to compose himself so that he wouldn’t start yelling.

 

“But how can you‒ what kind of people  _ do that?!  _ How do you just give up on a whole relationship with your son of eighteen years?! So what, he wants to do something that he’s good at and actually enjoys as a career. Why do you care? If anything, you should be  _ happy  _ that he found such a thing! My parents were ecstatic for me when I got my scholarship, and‒ Oh my god. Do you even realize how hard your son worked for that fucking scholarship? I’ve never known anyone to work so hard for something in my entire life!”

 

_ So much for not yelling _ , Felix chastised himself when he realized just how much he’d raised his voice at the older woman. 

 

“That child knew his father and I only let him continue with the useless classes because he kept his grades up. Initially, we hoped that it was just some phase he would eventually grow out of, but then he met you.” She paused to scoff, “Surely you don’t think that  _ we  _ are the only reason he went through all of that pointless work for such a small amount of money. Felix-ssi, if I were to have everything go  _ my  _ way, I would have shipped him off to an even better school to get him away from the likes of you.”

 

The two of them matched heights, but Felix had never felt so small when the woman began to speak so lowly of him.

 

“His father and I have always been concerned about his unhealthy obsession with you. At one point we’d even feared all this dancing nonsense had caused him to become one of those gays, but your parents didn’t seem like they would stand for such a grotesque feature in their son either, so we allowed it.

 

“Speaking of your parents, your poor dear mother seemed so shocked when she stopped by the other day. I’m guessing the boy didn’t bother telling you or anyone else the real reason for him vying for that the damned scholarship, did he?”

 

Felix remained still even though he knew he was close to blowing up. He found it even harder to keep his head on straight when Hyunjin’s mother took a step closer to him.

 

“Felix-ssi, he refused any other schooling solely because of the fact that  _ you  _ wouldn’t be there with him. Don’t you realize that he put himself through all of this for you?”

 

_ “That child? the boy?!  _ Do you hear yourself!? Hyunjin is your  _ son,  _ he has a name for Christ’s sake! And how  _ dare  _ you say something like that about my parents. You can insult me all you like, but  _ never  _ speak of my family in such a manner again.” Felix was absolutely fuming, but he couldn’t help but hope that he came off even scarier than when he yelled at Hyunjin the day before.

 

Mrs Hwang kept the same straight face as she turned back to her purse.

 

“If you’re done here, Felix-ssi… I request that you make a list of things you left here before‒”

 

“I don’t want your fucking money!” He yelled, no longer caring at how disrespectful he sounded. “And you don’t have to worry about Hyunjin ever coming back here, because I’m sure as hell not going to let him set foot near this place ever again.”

 

Felix turned to leave.

 

“Oh, and by the way Mrs Hwang,” he stopped short with one foot out the door and turned to look at her from over his shoulder with one of the sweetest smiles he could force out before he continued. “I came out as gay to my family  _ and  _ your son when I was in middle school… And I’ve had a crush on your Hyunjinnie for even longer than that! Have a great day.”

 

Felix slammed the door shut behind him and rushed down the steps to where his bike lay discarded near the yard as his entire body began to shake in anger and confusion over what had just occurred. He ended up walking his bike all the way back home. He didn’t trust himself to ride the bike safely when tears were constantly filling and falling from his eyes.

 

_ Hyunjin… he’d gone through all of that.. for me?” _

 

**Hyunjin ‒ Sunday Night**

 

Hyunjin was setting his alarm for his Monday morning class when Felix arrived back to their dorm room. He looked emotionally and physically exhausted, causing countless questions to pop into Hyunjin’s head, but he ignored them all. 

 

“You could have said something about leaving for the weekend, y’know.” He mumbled without looking up at Felix. He pretended to be engrossed in the Instagram feed on his phone, instead.

 

“I’m sorry, were you worried about me because I didn’t let you know what was going on in my life? Wow, my bad.” Felix mocked back.

 

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny. Can we talk? About what happened the other day, that is.” Hyunjin sat his phone down on his bed and finally looked up to see Felix’s reaction.

 

A genuine look of surprise flashed across Felix’s features as he considered the offer.

 

“Ah… Too tired.” He yawned while stretching his arms above his head before he pulled the covers up and over himself. “Nah. Don’t feel like it tonight. Maybe I’ll feel like talking to you tomorrow. We’ll see.” And with that, Felix switched off the lamp beside his bed and turned so that his back faced Hyunjin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated~! 
> 
> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix


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